The Time Traveler's Sempai
by Bloody-And-Broken-Butterflies
Summary: Tobi thinks that Deidara deserves a happier life than what he has. Can a simple wish on a star to go back to the days of his sempai's childhood be the answer he's looking for? Can Tobi really make things better for his Sempai, or does he just make it worse? And at what cost is Tobi willing to pay for the happiness of his beloved blonde? R
1. Chapter 1

**This story is adopted from **SandiaHero **and the first 12 chapters belong to them. After the 12****th**** chapter everything is written by me, Gaara-Demon-Loving-Only-Myself. Sorry it took so long to get up.. I DON'T OWN NARUTO!**

A green light filtered through the forest leaves; giving the dirt path we walked a calm feeling. For once, both of us were silent. I was so fascinated by the chirping of birds in the tree tops and constant squeaking of squirrels, I almost forgot my pact with sempai and began to rant about 'the wonders of the forest' and 'how we really should go out on strolls like this more often'. Thankfully I was able to catch my slip up before I annoyed Deidara anymore.

I still remembered how I had driven him nuts with my constant banter, and he yelled at me for being so annoying. It's not like I _try _to annoy him, it's just that -in case you haven't noticed- my attention span is about as long as a fish. I get distracted so easily, and I just can't help myself from trying to share these insignificant wonders to anyone and everyone around me. Deidara- sempai being my partner, he tends to be that someone.

_"Do you ever stop talking, hmm? I swear, if I hear one more word out of your stupid mouth, I won't give a second though to blowing you to chunks! You got that, hmm?"_

_I pouted childishly at him from behind my mask, as if he could see my expression._

_"But sempaaaai! I can't help it! It's just so great out here! Don't you think! Look at that bird, it's so pretty! And that bunny! Aww, it's soooo kawaii!"_

_His eye twitched as he stopped walking for a second. I stopped my ranting and watched him to see his next move. He wasn't really going to blow me up, was he? Then again, his patience was very low, and I _had _been talking non-stop this whole time. _

_"What's wrong Deidara?" I asked, trying to be inconspicuous about my small steps away from him._

_He just looked at me and sighed. I could practically see what was going through his mind. _

_'Should I blow him up right now? It would make my life a hell of a lot easier. Wait, no, I can't do that. Leader- sama would kill me, too. What else can I possibly do to shut this kid up?'_

_Finally he looked at me with a fake smile and said, "How about I make a deal with you? If you don't talk to me for the next 24 hours, I promise I won't try to blow you up for the next week."_

_I eagerly agreed to this. It was sort of like a game in my head. I like games. And besides, getting a promise from sempai that he won't kill you is rare, so not even _I'm _dumb enough to pass it up._

_And thus, the deal was made._

That was -according to my calculations- sixteen hours ago. I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold up. My brain is wired to talk, not to be quiet. It doesn't matter how much I don't want to talk, I do. So, obviously, this was killing me. But somehow, I was able to keep hushed for the full 24 hours.

It was about three in the afternoon when we finally got back to Akatsuki base.

_'Yes! I can finally talk again!'_

It almost felt weird to shout out at the top of my lungs that we were back, and it hurt my throat. But it also felt really good to use my lungs again.

I felt Deidara's glare from behind me as I launched myself onto the couch. I couldn't make a comment however, as at that moment Hidan and Kisame decided to come in.

"Hey! The little bitches are back!" You don't need to be a genius to know who that was. Quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the Jashinist's first words were all curses.

I turned my gaze towards Kisame, hoping for a better welcoming.

"How was the mission? I assume it went without a hitch, considering you're both alive and well," the shark glanced between the two of us. Despite his brute and monstrous appearance, he's probably the most polite person in the whole organization. Not to mention the fact that he was also one of the more sensible ones.

"Yep! Sempai and I had a great time! We got rid of the shinobi just as ordered! Then we stopped for some dango, which was sooo good! And then we traveled all afternoon, all night, then all of this morning back here to the base. The scenery was beautiful! You should have been there. Wasn't it great sempai?"

Said person was glaring daggers at me from the corner of the room.

"It wasn't anything special; just another forest in this world, hmm."

How could he say that? Even he would have to admit that the foliage and flowers were more appealing that any of the other woods we'd traveled in. No one can hate such a scenic place like that. Unless...

"Oooh. I get it! Let me guess, all you had was rock in Iwagakure. Thus, your inner child is mad at all the other places that did have such beautiful nature, and you have transferred that anger to the forests themselves!" I felt so proud of myself for thinking that up. Who knew I could be smart? Then again, I didn't think of what his reaction would be.

"Just shut up, yeah! You don't know a _thing _about my childhood in Iwa! Man, and I was just starting to enjoy having you around when you _weren't _talking, hmm."

And with that, Deidara stormed off to our shared room. Knowing him, he'd probably stop by Itachi and Kisame's room to insult the Uchiha some like he did everyday.

I remained on the couch, staring into the direction he left.

_'What'd I do wrong? Was it something I said?'_

I didn't see him for the rest of the day.

Night fell upon the base, and everyone who wasn't on a mission retired to their assigned bedrooms. I was a little nervous going down the hall to mine. Deidara and I shared a room since we were partners, so going to bed meant having to see him. I really hoped he wasn't mad at me anymore. Last time he got really mad at me, he made me sleep _near_ the bedroom. And let me say right now, you hear a lot of strange things when you sleep in the hall where you can hear through everyone else's doors. Not something I'd want to repeat.

The hinges creaked as I cautiously pushed on our door, waiting for the scolding I was sure to get. But there was none.

I opened the door the rest of the way to see the cause of this silence. I smiled to see sempai fast asleep in his bad, bed still made.

I didn't want him to get cold and wake up; he looked so peaceful like that. During the day, he looked years older than 19 with all of the death and blood he knew he had on his hands. However when he was peacefully asleep like this, all of the years vanished, and he looked like the sweet boy he really was.

After making sure he was tucked in properly, I slid my mask off, and put a light kiss on his forehead. I chuckled silently to myself as I thought about how he would react if he were awake. It made me slightly sad, too, however, knowing my feelings would never be returned. No matter how hard I tried to get his attention, all I would get in return was a kick to the side or being blown halfway across the forest.

As I lay there under my comforters, my mind roamed to the last thing he had told me.

_"You don't know a _thing _about my childhood in Iwa!"_

Thinking about it, he was right. I barely knew anything about his home village, except that it lived up to its name. The village was made out of rock, surrounded by rock, and built on top of rock. There were hardly any plants, and if there was, it was ivy vines climbing the walls of the buildings.

What was it like growing up there? I found it hard to believe such a great artist could come from that place, where everything was made to be eternal... eternally dreary that it. Sometimes, he really amazed me, and I couldn't help but wonder how he got to this point.

I stared out the window longingly gazing at the starry night sky. Then, the most amazing thing happened. The clearest, brightest shooting star I had ever seen shot across the sky, visible only for a few seconds before it was gone. Call me superstitious, but I knew that it's a fact that if you wish upon a shooting star, it will come true.

So, I tightly shut my eyes and wished away.

_'Deidara-sempai doesn't' deserve this life. He deserves a happy, exciting life that won't force him to kill himself. I wish I could go back and be with my sempai to protect him for the bad he's been exposed to._'

With that, I smiled as my mind went blank, and I was draw into the dark bliss that was sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

I felt the cool morning breeze draft through the window, the crisp air waking me up. Something felt a little different about today, but I didn't think much of it. Maybe this was what people call 'waking up on the wrong side of the bed'. Of course, that was usually used when someone is especially cranky one day, which was not the case. If anything, I felt more energetic than I had in a while. Goods night sleep I guessed.

I sat up and yawned, stretching my arms above my head. The covers fell down around my waist. I looked at them puzzled. What was different about them?

I sat there contemplating what could have possibly changed for at least two minutes before it finally dawned on me. These covers were grey. The blanket I had last night was _orange_.

Snapping my head up, I looked to my left to ask sempai if he had switched it out sometime during the night, but to my surprise, he wasn't there. And it wasn't just that his body wasn't in the bed, I mean that there was no sign of him at all. No bed, no second dresser, no table with clay stains all over it, and what I was most worried about, no Deidara. Not to mention this room was considerably smaller our real one.

I swung my feet off the side to put my slippers on, but they weren't there either.

_'What the hell is going on?'_

I took quick strides to the door (more like an arch in the wall with an opaque greenish-tan curtain. I wondered briefly if all doors in this house were like this) and peeked around the corner. One thing I was beginning to notice was that the walls were all made of stone. As was the floor, and the ceiling.

An image was forming in my brain, but there was no way it could be right.

I called out down the corridor, just to be greeted by silence. Sighing, I pulled my head back in to this small bedroom. I spotted a mirror next to the bed.

Now, don't call me self-centered for gong to look in a mirror, because I know for a fact that if a human sees their reflection - or gets the opportunity to - they're going to look at it. It's just instinct to want to know what you look like to everyone else.

I kicked up tiny bits of dust as I ambled myself to stand in front of the mirror. What I saw nearly made me choke on the air I breathed.

I stared at my reflection in shock and disbelief. I ran two fingers over the contours of my face. From my hair line, across my cheeks, down my nose, and finally gracing over my lips my fingers traced invisible lines.

I heard that getting enough sleep can make anyone look younger, but this was ridiculous; I looked exactly the same as I did when I was thirteen. My hair was still black and spiky, but it was much shorter. I still had both of my eyes. They were shiny obsidian orbs widened with amazement.

I took the time to look at my clothes. I was wearing a traditional green robe with darker green pants. Well, traditional for... Iwagakure.

Remember that picture forming in my head a while ago? Now I was starting to think maybe it wasn't such a stupid idea after all.

Still marveling over my younger body, I sat down on the corner of the bed. There were rare times when I ever really sat down and thought. I didn't really like using my brain too much, it made my head hurt for some strange reason, but I guess that's what you get for being stupid, ne?

_'What could have happened to cause this? Maybe this is a jutsu someone put me in. But why would someone use this on me? The only people I know personally can't use any technique like this._ _Well, maybe Itachi's genjutsu, but what would he gain from using it on me?'_

My mind wandered to other things while thinking. I was in Iwa now, which meant I was in Deidara's home village. Deidara...

I felt my eyes widen from the realization. "Oh! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" I hit my head several times at how ignorant I had just been.

Last night, right before I fell asleep, I saw that shooting star, and wished to go to Deidara-sempai's childhood! That must be why I was here! Of course, I was thoroughly baffled that it actually worked, but that wasn't the point.

I was thirteen, inn Iwa, during the time when Deidara was still here and attending the local ninja academy. Maybe this wasn't too bad after all. I certainly wasn't complaining about the new body. I had forgotten how great it was to be so young. And who knows, maybe now that I knew more about Deidara than he thought, maybe this could be my redo with him. With my knowledge, I would hopefully know what and what not to do when I make my first impression on him.

But, that would require me actually meeting him first...

My thoughts were broken and replaced by a feeling of dread as I heard a door slam somewhere from downstairs. I guess that answered my question about if all of the doors were like that.

Oh wait, that also means someone lives here!

Doing the first thing that came to mind, I scrambled under the bed and held my breath, waiting for whoever it was to do what they needed and leave. Unfortunately, that was not their plan, as I heard angry sounding footsteps coming down the corridor towards my room.

If it was even possible, I curled into myself even more to try to hide as well as possible. Squeezing my eyes shut, I ceased all movement as the person entered the room. They paused just inside the door before letting out a deep sigh. Judging by the tone, it was a male. The feet adorned with typical ninja sandals dragged over to the bed I was under, before disappearing from the floor. I only had a second to wonder where they went before I felt a weight on the top side of the bed push down, on the verge of crushing me.

He obviously felt something under him, because I felt his body twist and turn on the mattress trying to get comfortable. Finally, the movement stopped, and a mentally heaved a sigh of relief.

What were they doing up there? Who were they? Would they be okay if they knew a complete stranger was hiding under their bed? Probably not. I just hoped they were kind hearted enough to at least let me stay until I could find a place to stay myself.

I heard heavy, steady breathing from above me, indicating that they had fallen asleep. Careful not to make too much noise or movement, and risk the chance of waking them up, and army crawled out from under the bed.

After dusting myself off, I turned body to get a good look at who was resting on the bed.

My heart nearly stopped.

There lay a young, blonde, ninja who looked years younger when he slept. Worry lines temporarily indented on his forehead from the stress of the day.

Deidara.

Even at both of our ages at this time, he was still the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. But I also knew he would literally kill me if he found me staring at him in his room while he was napping. What would I say to him then?

_'Hey there! You don't know me, but I know you! I'll be living here under your bed, in your room while you're awake. Then, when you fall asleep, I'll be spending my nights watching you.' _

Ya, that'll go over well, I was actually beginning to creep myself out. I needed new arrangements if this was going to work.

I changed my plans just a little knowing who it was now. Instead of begging for assistance in finding a different place, I was feeling pretty content to just sleep under the bed. Maybe moves a pillow down there, and a small blanket. Yeah! It could work!

... Well it probably wouldn't, but I still liked the idea, so I would just go with that until I came up with something better. Crawling back under the bed, I let my mind fall into peace.

This would be so cool! It would be like we were living together almost! Of course, he would have no clue I was there, and I would avoid him every second of the day to not get beaten to death, but still!

And thus, my adventure in the past began!


	3. Chapter 3

I don't know when or why I woke up; all I knew was that I was disoriented and super uncomfortable. I tried to roll over, but something above me was pressing down, constricting my movement.

I panicked and looked around. I was confused to say the least to find I was on a concrete floor and under a bed. Why was I under a bed? Oh yeah. It was sempai's bed, and I was under it so he didn't try to discover a new way of torture if he found me in his home.

_'Shoot! How am I going to get out of here?'_

The room wasn't lit at all, so I figured it had to be about four in the morning at the latest. This meant I had slept through a whole day and then some. That was good though; now I had enough energy to think straight and get out of here. It also meant Deidara hadn't noticed me this whole time.

Using my amazing worm skills, I wiggled my way out from under the dusty mattress. Obviously my idea to stay there wasn't the best idea in the world. I had been hyped up on adrenaline and too happy to see my sempai again, that I hadn't been thinking straight. Besides, I would choke and die of all the dusty and germs under there before I could have gotten anything done.

There was a side table next to the bed -also made of stone- that held a small alarm clock. I had been right; it was only 3:42 in the morning.

I sighed and looked at Deidara's sleeping form. It could stare at him all my life and never get bored, but I only had time to get a closer look that before.

Leaning over him slightly, I studied his every feature. In our real time I had learned that he wasn't too much older than me, only by a couple years.

I had been found by Zetsu when I was thirteen- or at least that's where Konan had put me at. I had been found in the remains of a land slide they assumed, and I had lost one eye completely. The other one was injured, but was easily fixed with surgery.

No one knew of my past, and I couldn't remember. When I tried to recall things before that time, it hurt to find that nothing would come to me. Thus, I created a history and an identity for myself. I laughed sometimes knowing that for all I knew, I could have been a snotty, boring, grouchy kid before I was nearly killed.

My thoughts were halted as I saw a darker patch of skin on sempai's jaw. It was hardly visible, but there stretching from the corner of his mouth to the bottom of the right side of his jaw was the ghost of a bruise.

An unknown anger flared up inside me.

_'Why would anyone want to hurt my sempai? I don't understand! I swear, Deidara, I'll find whoever did this and get them back!'_

I nodded in conclusion as I stood up straight again. I left the room without another peep and wondered the house, trying to find my way out. I familiarized myself with the layout, incase I returned for some reason.

After about an hour of going up and down stairs and going through random doors, I finally found my way outside. And what was I greeted by? I straight drop off a cliff you took one too many steps away from the building, that's what.

I evaluated the village to see if there was any other place I would fall to my death if i wasn't careful. Turned out this was the case for the whole town. The village itself was built upon an eroding plateau.

Each building was supported on a tall column of stone that went down for about a mile. The only way to get to each building was to go across suspended bridges that swayed in the wind between the pillars. So far I didn't like this village very much.

In the center of it all was the tallest building; most likely the Tsuchikage's office.

This village was beginning to depress me. There were no pretty butterflies to chase (and if there were I'd fall off the edge), no sun to soak up while watching the clouds (there weren't cloud_s_, there was one big one that covered the whole sky), and no cute little animals running around that I could feed (they had all most likely fallen off the edge, too).

With my short attention span, it wasn't hard for me to loose focus on the large tower. Instead, I was draw to something moving from the corner of my eye. I gasped when I saw the cliff face to the side of the village. The mountains behind it looked as if they would go on forever.

But the best part was the number of waterfalls that cascaded down the side. My body urged to go up to the springs at the top of the mountains and play in the water to my heart's content. But I knew it was impossible. Just from looking, I knew there was no way to get up there, ninja or not.

_'Darn... and I really wanted to go up there... Oh well! Let's explore some more!'_

My depression forgotten, I skipped my way across the dangerous bridges to check out the still sleeping village. On my tour of the town, I passed a couple of buildings I recognized as a school, a mail post, a restaurant, and a spa. There were a number of stands lining the perimeter of buildings where you could buy groceries, pottery, cooking supplies; the basic needs plus some.

I gazed up at the sky to find that it was already bright outside. Ninja Academy would be starting up soon, which meant I should probably try to get back to the school and just say I was a new student.

_'Now, where was that academy?'_

I tried retracing my steps, but I could tell I was probably just getting farther away from my destination. I was about to give up and ask someone.

Turned out, I didn't have to. I felt a strong hand grip my shoulder, giving me a heart attack. I spun around to face the new threat. In front of me was a tall, well built man who was glaring down at me.

"And where do you think you're going, young man?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off before I could defend myself. "A kid your age should be in school right now, ne?"

I could tell this was a simple yes or no question, and only a yes or no question. I nodded my head averting my gaze to my feet.

"Look at me when I talk! The Academy is not lenient to spiteful children playing hooky, but if you hurry perhaps they will be merciful to you. Now come on!"

Without letting go of my shoulder, he guided me in the opposite direction I had been going. I knew I had been going the wrong way.

Finally, we arrived at the school, and he led me through the halls to one of the classrooms. He slid open the door and I was greeted by the sight of an even bigger man in the middle of a lecture. He immediately directed his attention to me, and even though he didn't glare, it scared me more than anything so far.

"It seems I've found a misplaced scrap on the streets. I've returned him to where he should be because I'm that nice."

_'Nice? What would you do if you were being mean? Oh wait, I really don't want to know...'_

I began to shake under the sensei's gaze as he looked me up and down, silent for the time being. I could also feel the stares of the students in the room.

After what seemed like a life time, the teacher finally spoke to me.

"I'm certain I've never seen your face before in this village. Tell me, what is your name?"

"T-t-tobi!" I stuttered out. I knew he was on to me by the suspicion in his eyes.

"Well, _Tobi_, care to explain why you're so late to my class?"

I blushed and stared at the ground. Just barely audible, I answered truthfully.

"I got lost..."

"What was that?"

"I got lost!" The snickers sounding from the man still gripping my shoulder and the other kids in the class rung through my ears. I blushed even harder if that was even possible. You see, this is why I started wearing the mask.

The teacher slowly walked up to me, looming over me with a threatening aura.

"I will be merciful once and only once for you mister. If you show up to my class so much as one minute late again, you will go straight to detention. Got it, kid?"

My eyes were widened to their fullest in fear, shaking intensely under his shadow. From one of the boys nearest us, I heard him remark loud enough for the whole class to hear.

"Please! That's not a kid, that a fleshy maraca!" All of the students laughed at his remark. I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes.

_'No! I can't cry in front of everyone after being late on the first day!'_

I sucked in my breath and nodded quickly. He seemed pleased enough and backed off. He glanced at the man behind me, silently saying to let go of me. Then, he walked back to his place on the center floor and opened his book again.

"Tobi, you may sit in the empty seat by Deidara."

My head snapped to the all of the desks and my sight immediately landed on the blonde. His eyes were wide in shock, mouth slightly agape. It was actually quite a comical sight to see.

"What? No! But sensei I-"

"Hush! I don't care what your personal problems are, but Tobi here will be sitting nect to you whether you like it or not! Now I don't want to hear another peep from anyone in this room until the end of class. And if you fail to do that, kindly shut up, stop breathing, and die. Now, where was I?"

Everyone was dead silent as I scurried to the empty desk. Deidara glared daggers at me, but didn't dare say a word. I smiled nervously at him and waved, hoping to ease the tension. It didn't work and he just shot me the evil eye before turning his attention back to sensei.

_'So much for a good first impression. But hey! Not only do I get to go to school with sempai, I get to sit next to him, too!'_

I smiled happily at this, not really paying attention to what was going on for the rest of class. Besides, I had already learned all of this before.

When the day was over, I skipped out of the classroom door. I didn't want to embarrass myself by getting lost again in front of all the other students, so I waited until everyone had left the premises.

I turned the corner to search for the apartment building where Deidara lived, but someone snatched my arm and dragged me around the corner. Before I knew it, I was pinned to the wall by- speak of the devil- my very own sempai.

My heart skipped a beat when I noticed our position. He had his hands planted on both sides of my head, and he was only about a foot away from me, using his body to keep me in one place. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. He had no idea how many times I had fantasized about this. Of course, the situation had been a little different, and a lot less clothes, but still.

My fantasy was brought to an abrupt end when he asked me that simple question.

"How did you know my name?" He hissed in a hushed tone. Probably afraid a teacher who was still there might hear him.

"W-what?"

"When you were assigned to sit next to me- which I'm really pissed about by the way- you immediately looked at me. It was almost as if you knew exactly who that name belonged to..." he spoke quickly and viciously.

He was right though. I shouldn't have known his name or face, considering that we had never met before. But we had, in a different time, the real time- when we were much older. But of course, he didn't know that. Only I was aware of this.

I had to come up with something quick that wouldn't get me a punch in the gut.

"Well I... uh... when I came in, I saw that the seat next to you was empty, so when he said the only empty seat was next to you, I looked over to see who he was talking about..."

_'Not too bad for on the spot. I hope he believes me'_

Deidara eyed me suspiciously before stepping away.

"Fine. I'll let it pass this time. But I'm watching you!" he called out as he walked away from me. I didn't really hear him though; I was too busy watching the way his hips swayed as he strutted away from me.


	4. Chapter 4

About a week had passed, and I still had no luck with finding a place to call 'home'. I was tired and sore from sleeping on one of the few park benches. It didn't help that said park was on the opposite side of the village from the Academy, so if I didn't want to get a detention - which I'm sure was a lot worse than it sounded- I had to get up at about five if I wanted to make it on time by foot.

The only thing that kept me from dropping out all together was the fact that the academy was pretty much the only place I got to see sempai. Sure, sometimes I caught a glimpse of him at some of the supermarkets and on the streets, but I could never work up the nerve to go up and talk to him, which was really odd, considering I had no problem doing it when we were both older. Oh well, maybe that just came with age and hormones and other stuff that I'd rather not think about.

That's why I kept myself entertained by challenging myself to notice at least one thing new about my surroundings every day. At the current time, I was observing not so carefully how all of the buildings either had almost round tower like structures, or perfectly square bases. They were all at least two stories high as well.

About ten minutes after my discovery, I arrived at the front of the school. Judging by the number of students already there, I was relatively early. I stood there awkwardly, wondering what I should spend with this new free time. My problems were solved when I saw a giant yellow butterfly flutter passed me. I didn't know that there could be such creatures in a dull place like this, but I guess I was wrong.

I chased after the butterfly, trying my best to catch it without falling over anything or anyone. Soon however, it soared above the building and away, much too far out of my reach. I sat down in the middle of the cemented "play ground" and pouted. Then I started laughing. I had been through my years training as a ninja, made it through the chunin exams, heck, I had been in the _Akatsuki _for almost a year and I still couldn't catch one butterfly!

I knew I was getting some weird looks, but I kept laughing anyways. I didn't really care what they thought. The only person's thoughts about me that mattered were Deidara- sempai's.

It was then that I realized it was almost time for class to start. I hurried to the class room just before the last of the kids. Relieved I wasn't late; I happily sat down next to Deidara.

"Good morning, sempai~!" I almost covered my mouth. I forgot I wasn't supposed to call him that now. That was only in the real time. But I didn't want him to know that I had just slipped up, and opted for smiling at him instead, hoping he wouldn't get too mad.

"... What did you just call me?"

_'Oh great, sempai's gonna kill me!'_

"U-um... s-sempai? I-I'm sorry if I o-offended you, I-I didn't mean anything by it! I j-just thought i-it was a good nickname- I- uh..." I sighed in defeat and looked at the floor, "... sorry..."

The intensity of his glare lessened after a while. I heard him huff and turn away to look at the front of the class, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Whatever, call me whatever you want," he said in a tone made of annoyance, boredom, and... maybe a little bit of sincerity.

...

Okay, so probably not the last one, but it still sort of sounded like it. I smiled to myself and also turned my attention to the teacher at the front of the room.

The rest of the class time was spent learning about how to properly throw a kunai using thrust, aim, distance, angle, spin, blah blah blah. As you can probably tell, I lost my focus in about ten minutes. I didn't really think about anything in particular, just zoned out of it completely. Before I knew it, it was lunch break. It took about five minutes for everyone to get out the door however, seeing as everyone tried to go through it at the same time.

Once that chaos was settled, we all dispersed our separate ways. The girls split into their groups to have lunch with their friends, the boys clumped together more or less, and a few of us just found a spot by ourselves to eat our lunches in peace. This group included me and Deidara. I was sad I didn't get a chance to see where he had gone; I was hoping to maybe eat lunch with him - or at least _near _him.

I didn't have much to eat. Just a small bag of chips and four chicken nuggets I had managed to get from a lady who had taken pity on me. Once I had eaten everything, I folded the bag I had carried it in and stuck in my pocket. I could still reuse it, and I didn't want to spend money on unnecessary things. I only had enough for maybe one package of instant ramen.

The chatter of all the students filled the air as I walked around the courtyard, and I could still hear it when I went back inside to roam the halls. It quieted down though the further I got in the school's hallways. Soon, I found myself at the back door. It opened up to a small grassy area. Mind you, the grass was in pretty bad shape, but it was still a welcomed change in environment. There was a small patch of wall in the center with a stone mural on it. It was of a black and white tiger, it looked noble and fearless, but it also lacked the sense of compassion it needed to be perfect.

My thoughts were cut off when I hear a commotion from behind the wall. I didn't want to get into the middle of a fight that I didn't have to be involved in, but my curiosity got the best of me. Trying not to make a sound, a turned the corner to see who was behind the wall.

The first person I saw was - to my surprise- Deidara. He was kneeling over carefully sculpted piece of clay with an annoyed expression on his face, eyes glaring up at the three boys around him. Said boys looked maybe a year older than us, and a bit rough in my opinion. It was then that I finally understood what they were saying.

"Pfft. Please! You call that shit of yours _art_? Isin hear has more artistic talent than that, and he's pretty bad," my eyes widened as I listened to, what I assumed, their leader taunt Deidara.

"Well obviously your talent is pretty bad too if that's the best insult you can come up with," sempai retorted back. I wasn't sure which side was winning this fight at the moment, but I was glad Deidara was holding his ground. Yes, I was plenty mad at the three boys for daring to insult my sempai's art, but I knew he was strong enough to fight this battle himself, and if I stepped in, all it would do is hurt his pride. However, if it got any worse than this, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop myself from interfering.

I watched from the shadows as the two sides fought back and forth, each one better or equal to the last. And finally, the moment came when the lead boy made the move to harm Deidara's artwork.

It happened almost in slow motion. He raised his foot, and swung it slightly behind him as he made his last insult, aiming at the small clay figurine. My reflexes kicked in by themselves. I felt my vision alter as sharingan activated in my eyes. I pinpointed his weak spot on the center of his back, and flung the nearest pebble straight at it. Naturally, it hit dead on.

I watched triumphantly as his froze mid kick, and tumbled to the side with a grunt. And don't worry! He wasn't dead, just momentarily paralyzed. I exposed myself from behind the wall to stand in front of the two boys who were currently helping their leader up.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think it's time we go back to class," I said in a warning voice. I made sure my sharingan was still working. I don't know why, but most people get intimidated when they see swirling red eyes. It seemed to work, as they promptly got up and scurried back inside (well one was more dragged, but that's beside the point). Of course, this didn't go without a few complaints from the one being dragged. I ignored them and turned to the young artist still stationed on the ground.

"Your piece is okay, right?" I asked worriedly looking to the clay in front of him. Thankfully, it looked like I had stopped the boy just in time, and everything was unharmed. I looked back at Deidara when I didn't get an answer. He was staring at me shocked and confused. "Is something wrong?"

"No... it's just. I didn't even see you there. And your reaction was in perfect timing... and your _aim_ was incredible! Skill like that takes years to accomplish... and those eyes... I've learned about them somewhere, yeah..."

I quickly deactivated the sharingan before he could remember that having them meant I was supposed to be from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. That would bring up questions I just couldn't answer.

"Yeah, there's kinda cool, huh? But really, class is about to start," I turned from his gaze and headed towards the building.

"W-wait, yeah!"

I turned back quicker than should have been necessary.

"Uh, thanks, yeah," he looked away slightly flushed. I just smiled softly.

"Hey, no problem! And by the way, I think your art it one of the most amazing things I've seen," I turned around and quickly made my way back into the building for class, leaving a stunned blonde outside to collect his clay and himself. Of course, I had mainly been talking about the explosive art that he practiced when he was older, but it looked like he hadn't discovered his calling yet. I was also slightly glad about that. If he was already blowing things up, I doubted this village would be much by now.

School was over for that day, and the sun was beginning to set as I finally arrived at the park. I found my make shift bed of donated blankets arranged on a bench. I tucked myself in between the thin sheets. Hopefully I could fall asleep before midnight tonight. Thankfully, the drama from today was enough to send me to dream land in a short while.

_TAP TAP TAP _

I groaned as I felt something tapping on my shoulder. And I was having such a good dream! I decided if I ignored whatever it was, it would go away. So, I turned over and tried to sleep more.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, as the person began to shake me... hard. I groaned as my chances of falling back asleep were gone. I rubbed my eyes and sat up to face whoever it was. I jumped about two feet when I saw I single blue eye staring at me strangely through long blonde hair.

"D-Deidara- sempai!" I was most definitely awake then.

"Tobi, what the hell are you doing sleeping in a park?" His voice was whispered almost, but I heard it loud and clear when he said my name. I was in shock. Since we had 'met' he had only called me 'brat' or 'stupid' or 'hey you', all of which I responded to, just happy he was giving me any form of attention. But never once before had he used my name.

Not wanting to look stupid, I remembered the question. Why was I in the park? Well, I woke up under your bed randomly, and not wanting to be a stalker, left to find a place to stay. I couldn't find anywhere to stay, so I came here. Like hell I was going to tell him that.

"What's wrong? Don't you have a home?" I looked down slightly sad and shook my head. Even in my real past when I was growing up, I never really had a home. I couldn't remember anything before my thirteenth birthday, so I didn't know where to go. By the time Zetsu-san found me, I was used to sleeping anywhere I could find.

"No. I can't find anywhere to stay. I literally have no money, so I can't pay..."

I heard him sigh and scratch the back of his head, probably thinking for a second. Finally he sighed and looked at me again.

"I have no idea where this niceness is coming from, but... how about this. As long as you don't annoy me or eat all of my food... you can... stay at my place if you'd like, yeah..." he mumbled the last part, as if trying to avoid letting me hear his offer. My head shot up to gape at him. He couldn't be serious, could he? But by the way he was looking anywhere but at me nervously, I knew I had heard right.

"... R-really?" I choked out.

"Ya. But it doesn't mean anything! You understand that right? I'll set up a proper guest bedroom and get some more food, but that's it, yeah!"

I nodded furiously. Of course he didn't mean anything by it, but I was overjoyed at the thought of NOT sleeping on a bench for once!

"Hmm... well, uh, I guess just grab what you need and come with me then, yeah."

I grabbed one of the blankets and gave him the thumbs up. He rolled his eyes and started walking away. It took me a while to realize he had gotten ahead. He squeaked and ran to catch up to him.

We walked in silence for the most part, a full moon lighting up our way quite nicely. Something was nagging at me though, two things actually.

"Ne, sempai?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, how did you find me? And more importantly, you've just spent a whole week ignoring me and treating me like trash, and now all of a sudden you're letting me live with you basically. Why?"

He stopped walking and looked down, brows scrunched together thinking. He looked back up at me and continued walking. I fell back into pace next to him and waited for his answer.

"Well, the answers to your first and second question are one in the same, yeah. I wanted to thank you for standing up for me, and protecting my art when I was caught off guard, so I asked around to find out where you had gone after school. It was late when I finally found you in the park, yeah. I know it seems like taking you in is really extreme for stopping some jerk from kicking a clay sculpture but... art really is my life. I don't know what I'd do without it, and I put so much care and love into all of my pieces, I would be devastated if something were to happen to one of them, yeah. Unfortunately, no one else in this stupid village appreciates my art, so when you told me that today... I guess I just feel like this is the only way to possibly repay you..."

I nodded, not feeling like ruining the mood with words. Besides, we were already at the complex and working our way up to Deidara's part. He had me sit on the only couch in the living room while he prepared my room. It was a weird feeling; being back in Deidara's home.

This is where I had started out in this time, and it felt most like home than any of the other places I'd been. And excuse me for sounding like a stalker, but I loved how it smelled only of Deidara. I assumed his parents weren't with him often, if they were even alive. He never talked about family or anything of the sorts back in the Akatsuki.

Finally, he came back in the room and told me that my room was ready. He walked me to the bedroom's door and pointed out a small closet in the corner, the light switch, and most importantly, a small sliding door that linking this room to his. I felt honored to be able to get the room right next to sempai's!

Once he was sure I was good, he turned and walked to his own door. Before he could go in though, I called out to him.

"Hmm?" Deidara looked at me sleepily, but not mad.

"...Thank you... for everything." I blushed and looked away.

Imitating my voice from earlier he replied, "Hey! No problem." He smiled (well more of smirked) and disappeared into his room.

And with that, I went to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

When I woke up the following morning, I nearly had a panic attack when I found myself under the covers tucked in bed, thinking the past week had all actually been a dream. Then I remembered the previous night, and let out a relived sigh.

I sat up and stretched my arms above my head, laughing when I noticed that I had done a 180 during the night and kicked all the pillows away. The only pillow left was the largest one which I had been cuddling in my sleep. Looked my childish ways were the same no matter what age.

Last night had been better than the last few. I had slept without any disturbances, and although I had fallen asleep late due to being brought here, I felt more refreshed than any other morning. This was going to be a good day. I could feel it!

I smelled something delicious waft in from the kitchen. I let my nose lead the way to the kitchen. There I saw a comical scene.

Deidara was standing over the stove, most likely cooking pancakes (and slightly burning them). But what was funny was the fact that he was also wearing an apron. A _pink _apron. I couldn't hold my loud laughter at the sight.

When hearing that he wasn't the only one in the room, Deidara whipped around and pulled a kunai out of nowhere. I stopped laughing as soon as I saw the kunai was aimed at me.

It was only about two seconds, but it felt like forever before Sempai stood up straight, slightly flushed.

"Oh yeah... you're staying here, too, yeah. Sorry," he turned around and resumed putting the well cooked pancakes on a large plate. When he got all of them on it, he looked at it a while with a frustrated expression. "Hmm, since I forgot you were here, I kind of forgot to make enough for two, yeah... I guess I can make some more..."

"Oh no! That's fine sempai! I'll eat whatever you don't. Don't worry 'bout me!" I quickly blurted out.

_'Sempai is so nice; willing to make another batch just so I could eat! But he really doesn't have to go through the trouble. If worse comes to worse, I'll just find something by my self. It's not like I haven't managed before...'_

The only reason I knew he had hear me was because of the small nod he gave as he set the plate on the table, picking up one pancake with his hands and eating it like that. I quirked an eyebrow at his strange eating habit, but shrugged it off as being one of the many great things about Deidara that made him so unique.

He only ate about three out of the five pancakes that were on the plate, standing up and going back to his room afterwards, leaving me to do as I pleased with the remaining breakfast.

I decided to only eat one and then take the other for lunch. I knew just one wasn't even close to a good meal; my stomach still ached for some food when I placed the second pancake into my reused paper bag. From the corner of my eye, I caught my reflection in the single glass window. Gazing at it, I noticed I had gotten considerably thinner. With all the walking I'd been doing, and maybe getting roughly 1000 calories a day, I wasn't surprised. Looking closer, I notice my ribs were beginning to prod their way out.

"How much _have _you been eating, hmm?" I spun around to see Deidara standing in the doorway, dressed and ready for school.

"W-what?"

"What do you mean, 'What?' I mean that a stick has more meat on it than you, yeah! Here..." He reached into his small pack and pulled out what I guessed was his own lunch bag. He rummage around it with his hand and pulled out a sandwich. "Take this, too. I don't want you starving to death on my hands, yeah."

"No, sempai, I couldn't do that! It's your lunch; I don't want you to go hungry because of me!" I protested.

"Please, like I'm going to die because I don't have lunch for one day, yeah. Now just take the sandwich!" He thrust said sandwich- which was carefully wrapped- in front of my face.

"B-but se-"

"Oh my gosh Tobi, just take the God-damned sandwich, yeah!"

Deciding I didn't want to pummeled until I accepted the food, a quickly grabbed it and started out the door with a quick thank you.

"H-hey! Wait for me, damn it!" He ran to catch up with me. We walked together in a not uncomfortable silence all the way to the school.

It was now lunch break. I had already finished of my small amount of food, still eating separately from Deidara. I had gathered that just because he was letting me live with him and was giving me food, it didn't mean we were more than good acquaintances.

It made me a bit sad to know that we still weren't what most people would call 'friends' yet, but I didn't let me get me down. Sempai would come around. It just might take some more time.

Other kids were playing in the courtyard, laughing and yelling, not paying attention to anything else. I guess that was why the group of boys from the other day decided to snag me and drag me behind the building where no one could see us.

I gasped as the leader boy struck his fist into the wall next to my head, barely missing my cheek.

"Listen, brat. We have problem with how close you and Deidara are becoming." His friends stood on either side, blocking any attempts to escape. You could say I was scared, but that would be a bit of an understatement. I'd seen what these guys could do. If they really wanted to, they could kill me in two second flat.

"W-w-what wrong w-with sempai and me getting c-closer?" I squeaked out. I sounded pathetic.

"Well, you may have noticed, but that Deidara kid and our boss here have a little thing going on. And you're getting close to him might hurt that special thing."

"Yeah, and when boss has got a thing for someone, _no one_ gets in his way!" The two other boys in their gang retorted, snickering at me the whole time.

_'What do they mean, when they said him and Deidara had a thing? No...don't tell me they're... together? No. It can't be. It's obvious that Deidara hates this guy's guts. Or does he...'_

I was too lost in my thoughts to dodge the fist that flew at me. I didn't know which one of the boys it was, but one of them had punched my hard across the cheek. Not being prepared for that, I stumbled to the ground. The three boys laughed.

"Just remember this, kid. Stay away from my toy, ya got it?" the leader spat on the ground next to me. Then he and the rest of his gang walked away in triumph.

I picked myself up so that I was no longer laying face down on the ground, but leaning against the wall.

It was then I heard the three boys and another talking just around the corner.

"Hey, it's our favorite little blonde!" I knew instantly that they had run into Deidara.

"Shut up, Mori, yeah. What are you guys doing here?" I scooted towards the corner to her them better.

"Oh nothing. Just teaching another brainless squirt not to get in my way," the leader's- Mori's- voice sounded a bit seductive almost. The tone didn't really suit him; it made him souind drunk.

"Don't touch me asshole! And stop beating others up, they aren't half as bad as you are, so you have no right to punish them, yeah."

"Oh, but this little one did do something wrong. He was going to get in-between you and me..." his voice trailed off, the purr very evident in his voice. Made me sick...

"I told you not to touch me, yeah! And I've told you a million times before; I would never get involved with a bag of sand like you! Now go die in a ditch somewhere, yeah." sempai's voice trailed off at the end, the sound of him pushing pass the others reached my listening ear. I realized he was coming around the corner, and would see me in this pathetic state if I didn't get up fast.

Trying not to fall over, I used the wall to haul myself up as quick as I could. Just in time, too. Deidara came around the corner and stopped when he saw me rushing myself off.

"_You _were the one they were beating up on, hmm? Are you okay? I know they can be really vicious," He walked over and looked me up and down to check for any obvious damage. Deidara- sempai could be so nice when he wanted to be.

"Yeah, they only hit me once. I'll survive," I joked as I felt my cheek, wincing when I touched the already forming bruise.

"I'm sorry that had to happen, yeah. I wonder if they found out about me having you live with me... that would explain some things they said... whatever, we can think about that later. Right now we gotta get back before we're marked as late."

He dragged me to the classroom, moving a bit too fast for me, making me trip often. Unfortunately, we still got to class a minute late. And, just as promised, we both got detention.

I had officially deemed detention as the worst torture human being could be put through. You have to sit at a desk for and hour without talking, humming, standing up, or sleeping the entire time. As you can guess, I was almost ready to die by the 45 minute mark. I looked around me for some form of entertainment.

I looked at all the students, trying to put their names and faces together.

_'Let's see, Yori, Yuki, Hiro, Kana, Akito, Miki, Kuzo... wait, where's Deidara-sempai?'_

I scanned the room again, but still no sight of him. Where could he be? At this Academy, you had to serve five ore detentions if you missed one, so there was no way he was skipping. And there was no way he would have gotten off the hook.

My mind immediately thought the worst. I raised my hand high to get the teachers attention. He sighed and set his perverted book down.

"Yes, Tobi?" he sounded super annoyed at the moment.

"Sensei, I really have to go to the bathroom. May I be excused?" I know it was a lame excuse, but it was also one that almost always worked.

"You only have ten minutes left, can't you hold it?"

"No. I really have to go."

"Alright fine, you may be dismissed to go to the bathroom." I mentally cheered as I bounded out of my seat and to the door, acting like I really did have to go. But as soon as I shut the door, I began to walk the halls, searching for my sempai.

I expected him to be arguing with Mori and his gang about matters I didn't know much about. I was half right.

What I didn't expect was to see Deidara pinned up against the wall by Mori, locked in deep kiss.


	6. Chapter 6

There were several emotions that ran through me at that moment: confusion, shock, anger, sadness, and betrayal. With all of these fighting for dominance in my mind, I was unable to move - or look away for that matter. I simply stood there frozen, mouth slightly agape.

The blood rushed to my cheeks, and I couldn't think straight. Was it really true then? Were Deidara and Mori really together? No! They couldn't be! I couldn't, no, I _wouldn't_ allow it!

I was much better than Mori, wasn't I? I was happy, friendly, and (somewhat) respectful. Mori was just a butt to everyone. Violent, harsh, cruel, always looking for fights, and...apparently what made Deidara happy.

I slowed myself down. I remembered watching Deidara back when Sasori was his partner and seeing how the puppet attracted the blonde. Sempai had followed him around everywhere; he adored him. Obviously, it was the same personality that he wanted, which just wasn't me.

All I wanted was Deidara s happiness, and if Mori was they key to it, who was I to stop them?

Of course, just because I was doing this for him, didn't mean I wasn't heart broken. A single tear stained my still blushing cheeks as I backed up behind they corner.

_'Sempai, all I want is to make you to be happy. So why is it hurting me so much to do that?'_

I didn't know which one of the two is was, but one of them let out a moan/gasp. My eyes widened when I hear the thump against the wall that followed shortly after. They couldn't be.

Another moan. Louder, and clearly Deidara's.

My poor heart, this just wasn't it's day was it?

I couldn't bare to hear the periodical thuds that echoed through that hall, so wiping away my tears, I walked down the halls and left the building. I would have avoided going back to Deidara's place now, but I _really _did not want to sleep on that bench again. I would just have to go straight to my room and sulk for a while. Then I could put on a happy facade and everything would be all right.

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until I heard the door to the apartment open.

"Tobi? You here, hmm?" Great just what I needed right now. I decided if I didn't respond he would leave me alone.

Unfortunately that was not the case. His footsteps came down the hall and straight to my room. The shoji door slid open almost soundlessly, and a sigh escaped his mouth.

"There you are, yeah. I couldn't find you anywhere at school. I was beginning to think you had gotten lost again, yeah," he chuckled to himself there in the door way. I of course, didn't respond. "Tobi? You all right, hmm?"

"Yeah. I'm okay. Just...not feeling very good I guess..." my back remained turned to him. I wouldn't be able to look him in the eye for a while.

"Oh. Well, do you want me to make some ramen or something, hmm?"

"No thanks, I'm good."

Couldn't he see I wanted to be alone at the moment?

"Hmm. Okay. Well, anyways, one of my friends is having a party tonight, and I'm invited, yeah. We're allowed to bring a friend if we want, so...are you gonna come or what, hmm?"

I glanced over my shoulder and saw him in the doorway, hands on his hips. I chuckled. He really did look like a girl sometimes.

Who knew, maybe a party would be just what I needed to get my mind off of things. Besides, I had always loved parties, especially birthday parties. But any kind of party would do.

I gave a quick nod. "I'll go if I don't get sick before it's time. You wouldn't want to take me to the hospital because I passed out and fell of the edge of the city now would you, Deidara?"

His smile slightly faltered. Was it something I said?

"What, no 'sempai'?" Oh. It was something I _didn't _say. I guess it was just hard for me to consider him as my sempai after today.

"Oh, that...like I said, I haven't been feeling very good today," I said looking down at the patterns on my pillow. He scoffed.

"Che, and you were so hyper this morning...well, I'm going to get ready. At least think about what you're going to wear if you do end up coming, yeah," he said as he turned and walked away

I didn't know why, but for some reason that short conversation lightened my mood a ton. I knew it was because I was in denial. My tiny brain didn't want to believe that that was really Deidara I had seen back there. Thus, seeing him as his usual self made me unconsciously begin to think it wasn't. How I knew this was what was going through my mind you ask? Well, it boggled my mind, too.

I decided I really did want to go to the party with Deidara.

I got out of bed, went to the closet, picked out the least ragged clothes of mine I could find, and put them on. I ran my hand through my hair and pulled out the knots. I looked myself over in the single mirror and nodded to myself, This was as good as it could get at the moment.

I skipped to the kitchen and poured myself a small glass of orange juice. I heard Deidara come in and turned around to greet him.

I promptly did a spit-take when I saw what he was wearing.

He was dressed in tight black skinny jeans that did wonders for his legs (not that they weren't the best legs in town already), I fishnet shirt that showed off more than enough skin on his torso, a black tank top over that that ended just under his chest, and black combat boots. And that was just his clothes.

His eyes were lined with a sparkly black liner with a sky blue trim on the top. A light dusting of blue shimmer covered his cheeks and around his eyes, along with at the top f his arms and shoulders.

Then I looked at myself. Compared to him, my simple skinny jeans and a hoodie was extremely under dressed, of I guess I should say I was wearing too much, comparing the amount of skin showing on the two of us.

"So? Do you like it, hmm?" He asked. "I think I think I look pretty good, ne?"

I nodded quickly swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat.

"Ya, actually I really like it. Um, just a question though._How did you afford it_?" I looked over his outfit one more time, concluding it he either had robbed a bank or had been working a really good paying job for the last few years to get the money for these clothes. I mean, I knew you were supposed to dress up for parties, but this was almost over the top. I'd think he was going to a _strip club_ if I didn't know any better.

Of course, turns out he was dressed just fine.

Before he got a chance to answer my question, there was a loud pounding on the door to the apartment. He ran to open it, and standing there was who I assumed was one of Deidara's other friends. He waved me over, and without introducing us to each other, the other boy led the way across town to another neighborhood. This neighborhood was much closer to the waterfalls than before. It almost seemed like it would be possible to get to them from here.

My attention was averted when I began to hear the loud music pounding through my veins. I saw why they chose this person's house; it was far away enough from the main part of the village that no one would really complain, and all the other houses in the area looked almost deserted.

But the volume was nothing compared to what it was like inside. As soon as the door was opened, I literally almost got knocked backwards from the blast of music. After I few minutes I got used to it, but I knew I would be nearly deaf the next day. I turned to ask Deidara what we did now, but he was no where in sight.

Looking around, I saw other kids our age and a little older drinking, most likely some form of alcohol, others standing with groups in corners, and others that were dancing fearlessly to the beat. Not really knowing what to do, I grabbed a drink for myself and found a corer to hag out in and observe for a while until I worked up the nerve to do anything else.

Now that I had a clear view of everything, as time passed, I noticed that people were becoming drunk. This was evident because I could already see piles of shirts and other clothing items strewn on the floor. By now almost everyone was with a partner doing something; dancing, laughing drunkenly, making out, or grinding each other as if they were actually having sex on the dance floor. This was something I was not used to, and I soon became uncomfortable.

It didn't help when someone covered my eyes from behind me.

"Why aren't you out there having fun with the rest of us, hmm?" Even though it was slurred from alcohol, I would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Deidara? Will you please let go of my face?" I wasn't sure if his hand mouths would stat licking or biting, and I really didn't want to find out. Thankfully, he slipped his hands away and went for draping hid arm over my shoulders instead.

"Better, hmm? Hahaha, wow Tobi, you really are perverted, yeah! Here you are sitting in the corner watching everyone here while people are practically stripping in front of you! So tell me, which one of them chicks do you like, hmm?"

"W-what?" I nearly choked on my own spit at that one.

"Don't deny it, yeah. I've picked up on that little 'Im' in love!' vibe you have, yeah. So come on! Which one is it, hmm?"

How was I supposed to respond to that? First of all, I was already looking at her, Second of all, it wasn't a girl that I liked. Three, if I any of this, I had no idea what the reaction would be.

"... I don't like any of them, Deidara." I blushed and looked away. I hoped he wouldn't press me until I gave up and told him.

"Your blush says otherwise, yeah," he poked my red cheek, "But I won't anymore."

I mentally sighed in relief. I would tell him someday, just not now. Especially when he was drunk and wouldn't really know what I was saying.

"Thanks."

He gave me the thumbs up and a quick smile before getting really serious. He leaned in, lips just barely grazing my ear. A shiver ran down my spine.

"Hey, I know you've been eying those waterfalls for a while now, yeah. You want me to show you the secret way to get to them, hmm?" he whispered to me. My breath caught in my throat. Did he really know how to get to them?

"Y-you mean, like with a group of friends?" He chuckled slightly, his hot breath hitting my ear again.

"Nope. Just you and me, yeah. So whadda ya say, hmm? You in?"

He was obviously pretty drunk, and I doubted his sense of direction. But I wasn't about to just pass up a chance like this! I nodded in a silent 'yes', and he grabbed my hand and dragged me out the door.

It was about a five minute walk to the edge of the cliff face, and from there he led me off the marked path. We maneuvered our way through the shrubs and trees, over giant boulders and logs, and finally we began to have to jump over small streams of water. I followed close behind him, not wanting to get stuck and/or lost out here, knowing I'd never find my way back.

Then, almost as if someone pulled back a curtain, the dense forest opened up to the most beautiful scene I had ever seen. The ground was not grass, but covered in a cozy moss that was soft to the touch. In the center was a medium pond, which one large waterfall surged into.

The only sound was of the water flow and a few crickets surrounding the area. I turned to Deidara, who was also admiring the scenery. He walked over to a particularly thick patch of moss and laid himself down in it. I had to say, it looked awfully comfy, so I followed and laid down right next to him. I closed my eyes, and enjoyed the few minutes of peaceful silence. He was the first to break the quietness.

"This is where it all started for me, and also where it all ended for me."

I opened my eyes and looked at him. His eyes remained closed, the makeup still in perfect condition. He seemed to be deep in thought.

"What do you mean?"

"Well...it's a really long story, yeah. You'd probably get bored by it..." he had my attention now, I turned on my side and rested my head on my hand.

"No, I won't! I promise to listen to everything you have to say, Deidara."

He looked at me for a second before sighing.

"Okay then...earlier, you asked me how I afforded all of this, right, hmm? Well, it's not just this. It's also the apartment, the food, the furniture...everything I payed for with the money I earned, yeah."

"You have a job?" I asked.

"No, not exactly. As you've noticed by now, Mori...well his family is very rich; they own a weapons and supply shop here in the village, yeah. Anyways, he and I have a bit of an agreement, yeah. I do him favors and such, and he pays me as he sees fit. And he may not look it, but he's actually quite the generous guy, yeah. I guess it has to do with him being super rich and all."

It made sense now. That would explain why he always held back when in a fight with Mori. However, that still did't explain why he and Mori were doing it in the hallway. I would have pushed him to answer that, but I eventually decided against it. If he wanted me to know about it, he would have told me.

"So, now I guess you know my little secret, yeah," he sighed. I noticed he sounded a lot more sober than at the party. Maybe it was the settings that cleared his mind.

I got to thinking. Deidara had shared so much about himself with me, and I still had more secrets I hadn't told him that I could count. I knew it was time to say something about my origin. After all, it wouldn't be long before e remembered where he had heard about the sharringan before.

"Well, since we're sharing secrets here, I guess I have I pretty big one, too. Well, actually, there's two, but I can only tell you one." He turned his attention to me now. "On the first day we met, you commented on how my eyes transformed strangely, but you couldn't remember where you had seen the eyes. Well, it's because I'm not from Iwa."

His eyes widened a bit in shock.

"What do you mean, hmm?"

"These eyes of mine are only inherited in the Uchiha Clan. My full name is Tobi Uchiha, or at least I think so-but that's a different story for a different time. The Uchiha clan is a part of Konahagakure. In other words, I'm actually from Konaha."

His eyes were now the size of saucers, lips slightly parted.

"Are you serious, hmm? If you're from Konaha, what the hell are you doing in Iwa, hmm? I'm not sure, but I think that's illegal, yeah," he was sitting up now looking down at me.

"Well, I can only reveal one thing at a time. For now, just know that I know what I'm doing, and there is a reason I'm here."

He seemed to take this well and slowly lay back down.

"... I don't know why, but for some reason, I really feel like I can trust you with the one thing I'm most ashamed of. If I tell you this, you have to promise to never tell anyone else, or I'll kill you, yeah," by the tone in his voice I could tell he was dead serious.

"I swear on my life, Deidara, I won't tell another soul about it." I made an 'x' over my heart to show my promise.

"Okay... I'm not a virgin. Far from it, in fact."

It took a while for his words to sink in. They didn't really surpise me, from what I'd saw and heard earlier today, I had guessed that was the case. But it still angered and hurt me to know someone had taken him as theirs before I could. And I knew just who it was. Mori. I now knew what Deidara had really meant by doing Mori "favors". It was the classic sex for money.

But didn't he say he was ashamed of this? If so, yes it was sad that it meant he would never be just mine. A little part of him would always belong to that bastard Mori. I swore one day I would kill that kid. But for now I had to comfort Deidara.

I looked over and saw a single tear escape his eye. I didn't ask why he was crying, I already knew that much. Instead I pulled him to my chest. Surprisingly, I was still a little taller than him in this time.

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone, sempai." My words were barely above a whisper.

His own words came out choked. "Hey, you called me 'sempai' again, yeah... I'm glad..."

I smiled into his back. "Yeah, I guess I did...and I promise, one day I'll give Mori what he deserves for hurting you like this."

"...thank you, Tobi..."

We fell asleep like that, next to the water fall, laying in the moss, with no one to disrupt to perfect peace.


	7. Chapter 7

I still felt like I was in a dream when I woke up. The sound of water filled my senses, then slowly the smell of moisture and life. I opened my eyes to see the light filtered in from the tree tops, giving everything the beams touched a golden, shimmering appearance. Then my eye caught sight of real gold. Deidara was under the waterfall; bathing himself in the cool clean water. Of course, my gaze went straight south once noticing the lack of clothes, but sadly, the water was a great shield. Oh well,, plenty of time for that later, right?

My muscles began to work, and a strange sense came over my me. Yes, sleeping on moss that was on top of solid earth could make you sore, but this feeling was different. Deidara had never moved out from my grasp during the night, and now I felt empty almost without him right there. I decided then that I should get used to it. Just because he slept with me once (and NO. Not like _that_ you perverts...) didn't mean it was going to happen again.

My muscles groaned and protested as I stretched my limbs in every direction. Call me weird, but I always loved the sound of my back popping.

The sound of the steady stream of the waterfall faltered for a second as Deidara got out and disappeared behind some tall bushes. When he came back out, he was dressed again (darn) and was wringing the extra water out of his hair. He paused to look at me, seeing as I was no longer asleep.

"Well, sure took you long enough, yeah," he mumbled as he continued to hold his damp hair away from his dry clothes. I noticed now that he was not wearing what he had been last night, but was again in a dark green robe that cut of at his mid thighs.

And that was all that was on him.

I blushed and looked away quickly. If I kept looking, he would (1) probably get pissed, (2) would see very clearly that I liked him, and (3)...well I'd rather not say three, use your imaginations.

He chuckled at my shyness.

"What? Don't tell me you've never seen another guy naked before, hmm? Besides, I'm completely covered anyways, yeah," I was too consumed in trying not to look that I didn't see him advance, thus, scaring the crap out of me when he sat in my lap. "Unless of course, you want to change that, yeah..."

My eyes put saucers to shame, and my cheeks made a tomato look white. At the first look of my expression, he burst out laughing.

"Okay, your expression right now is _priceless_, yeah. Ah, but I'm afraid there is no time for that, school starts in an hour."

He got off me and brushed his robe back down into place before he walked away, still chuckling to himself. Once I had made sure that certain arts were in check, I stood up and joined him in running like maniacs to get to the school on time.

With the universe on our side, we got there just in time.

We sat down at our usual desks and focussed on the teacher.

"All right class. Today I'm assigning you all a project!"

"Ugh..." we all groaned. I hadn't been in the class long enough to know from experience, but apparently the projects were usually super suckish.

"Don't groan you imbeciles! This time, I decided to let you guys have a little fun. You are to split of into teams of two. Within your group, you and your partner are to find a jutsu that requires more than one person, and then learn said jutsu. You will meet with me after classes next in two weeks and present your new techniques. Am I clear?"

"Hai, Sensei," we all said in unison.

"Good. Now, pair up, and get started immediately!"

Everyone stood and began to get with their partners. Everyone except Deidara and me. We were already next to each other. We looked at each other in a silent agreement.

"Cool, for once I'm not gong to go insane from some ridiculous project, yeah! So, where do we start, hmm?"

I go up and walked over to a large bookshelf that covered the back wall. It was filled with scrolls and books and other things that one might need if they wanted to research a new jutsu.

I found one book that looked promising.

'_Multiple User Jutsus'_

It sounded like it was just the book we were looking for. I battled with the shelf for a while since the book was packed in tightly. Finally it came out, and I bounded back over to Sempai.

"That was quite the epic fight you had with that bookshelf, yeah," he looked amused as I bushed and put the book in front of him. "Hmm? Oh, hey! This looks perfect, yeah! Well, let's get to it, yeah."

We spent about ten minutes flipping through the pages, debating which ones sounded good and which were out of the question. We were about half way through the book when we found the jutsu we didn't know we were looking for.

"Hontai suitchi-jutsu, hmm?"

"Yep. It's a body switching technique. The people involved in the jutsu temporarily switch minds," I said. "Sounds fun, ne, Deidara-sempai?"

"Ya...hmmm. It says here that the more chakra is brought with the mind, the longer you'll be able to stay like that, yeah. However, if you use too much chakra, your mind could be implanted in that body for good, yeah..." his eye brows scrunched as he continued reading.

"Well, if that happens, cant you just use it again to switch back?" I asked.

"No, it doesn't work like that. To switch back, the jutsu has to wear off on its own, yeah... but you know, I don't think that'll be a problem. The hard part will be to keep from laughing when people get fooled by this new technique, yeah!"

I smiled brightly at him. "Yeah! This is going to be awesome!"

With that, we went into the courtyard to start learning the new jutsu.

Normal POV

Deidara and Tobi ran out the door to get started on their project, leaving the book wide open on the desk. Mori came out of the shadows where he had been monitoring his pet. He was most definitely not happy with that stupid Tobi kid for barging in and trying to take Deidara away from him.

He glanced unsuspiciously at the page that had been left open.

_'So, they're going to learn Hontai Suitchi, hmm? Well, then I guess I should pay attention from now on. No doubt one of them will try to trick me. Hmm, maybe I could twist this around to my favor...'_

It didn't take long before Mori had come up with a "fool proof" plan. He was great at manipulating people to do exactly what he wanted them to, that included making them do it subconsciously. He was good at reading people; how they reacted to things compared to others, their personality, and their circumstances were key things you had to know if you wanted to be able to know what to say to get what reaction. And he had observed the spiky black haired idiot long enough to know that his drive was his "sempai" as he called Deidara. It would't be hard to pull a few strings to get what he wanted.

With a plan in mind and heart set on revenge, he closed the book and confidently strode back to his own desk, just as Deidara and Tobi came back in. Tobi stood there and looked at the book for a moment before speaking.

"Huh, I was sure I had left it open...I really must be going crazy." He shrugged and grabbed his bag. School was over now, and everyone was free to leave. Mori watched as Tobi handed Deidara his bag, and they left together.

This was nothing new. Mori knew they probably lived together, since they always got to school at the same time, and never without each other. They also left school together and walked the same way. But just because it was a known fact, it didn't mean Mori was enraged that an unworthy idiot like Tobi got some kind of attention from Deidara.

_' I told the kid once before not to get in my way, however it seems he's too stupid to understand my warning. At some point I'll teach him the hard way that no one messes with what belongs to me.'_

But now was not that moment, as Deidara and tobi had already walked out the door, returning to their shared apartment.

_'That's right. Enjoy your little vision of whatever romance is between you two. Because in two weeks, I'm going to rip that to shreds.'_


	8. Chapter 8

Turns out that Hontai Suitchi-Jutsu is a lot harder to execute than one would sounded simple; find your partners chakra and try to replace it with your own while they did the same. Easier said than done. Our bodies kept refusing each others chakra. Every time we got close, one or both of our bodies would panic and shut the chakra flow down. We had spent the past two days practicing and it seemed we were no farther than when we first started.

It was tiring, so we often found ourselves taking breaks in between sessions, like we were now. I had packed us a small lunch of curry and rice. Now we were sitting in the shade of one of the many trees, eating silently. Every time we practiced, we came back up to our secret spot at the waterfalls that Deidara had shown me that night. It was calm, and easier to concentrate.

"Damn. This jutsu is a lot harder that I thought it was going to be, yeah. I'm going to have no energy whatsoever by tomorrow if we keep up like this," he said as he ate another clump of rice.

"You can say that again. We still have a little less than two weeks to get it, but with our progress so far, it's going to be hard to get it down before we present it."

"Hmm," he nodded and gazed at the waterfall.

We sat there for about another minute, silent yet comfortable. I was about to comment that we should maybe try again, but he beat me to it with his own statement.

"I have a meeting with Mori tomorrow night."

It took me a while to process the new data going through my head. When I finally got what he was telling me, I partly wanted to throw my food on the ground and shout "Fuck it!" then storm off, another part wanted to burst out crying, and the last part wanted to get up calmly then walk to Mori's house and slaughter him with a blunt butchers knife.

Instead, I did nothing. I looked up at him with shock, and he looked back with guilt and disgust. I had picked up quickly that he really did want nothing to do with Mori, which made me feel a little better. But that good feeling was equally countered with the sense of disgust that came with it. Sex is an experience that should be had only with someone who is very special to you, and no one else. And for Mori to force Deidara into such a thing countless times for his own enjoyment was a crime that could only be punished by torture, maybe even death.

"You don't want to go do you?" He looked at me with sad eyes and shook his head.

"No, not really. Actually, I've never wanted to, yeah."

"Then why did you go?" I questioned.

"Because I need the money," he said avoiding the question.

"You know that's not what I meant," I waited for his reply. I wanted to know why he agreed to this and never stopped. Surely he was old enough now to get a job or something.

"... Because there was no one there to stop me, yeah," I barely heard him, but I heard him enough to hear the pain and regret in his voice. I didn't want him to be sad. I just wanted my sempai to be happy.

"Well there _is _someone now. Me. I'll stop you..."

He looked me in the eye for what seemed like decades, though it was probably only a few seconds. He sighed and a sad smile graced his lips.

"Why? Why are you so caring for me? We've only known each other for about two weeks, yet you care for me so much. Even after I treated you like shit the first few days after we met..."

_'You've been treating me like shit for a lot longer than just a few days, Sempai. A few years is more accurate. But you don't need to know that. It doesn't change anything.'_

I scooted over so that I was sitting right next to him, but leaving enough space so he didn't get uncomfortable.

"Well, it's sort of self explanatory. I care for you so much because, well, I care for you. I always have. From the moment we met I promised to myself I would make myself useful to you, and do anything I could to make your life less crappy. That includes keeping you from going to see I psychopathic jerk who thinks that paying someone when you rape them automatically makes it okay."

He chuckled a little at the end. It made me so happy to see that he could be happy in times like these.

"You sound like some sappy fifteen year old who has just watched too many reruns of old soap operas, yeah," he teased. "But it's okay, yeah. It's kinda cute."

He laughed when I turned away, blushing some. Then the laughter stopped, and he became almost serious. He looked at me directly, but not in the eye. It was as if he was trying to read some part of me that he hadn't seen yet.

"Um... Sempai? What are you doing?" I stared at him in confusion as his eye brows furrowed slightly in concentration. My voice seemed to break him from his little trance though, and he looked me straight in the eye now.

"Do you really care for me like that, Tobi, hmm?" I blushed as I realized that my words could have been taken as a confession, which in a way they were. I guess there was no turning back now. He knew, and now he was going to be disgusted with me and chuck me right back out of his life.

"Y-yeah... but I..." I didn't really know what to say. I mean, what _did_ one say in this situation. Anything I came up with sounded retarded, cheesy, or just wasn't enough.

"But you _what_, hmm?" His face was unreadable. The only thing I could tell from looking at him was that he wanted me to answer the question.

"I..." I took a deep breath to calm myself. "There's something I've wanted to do for a really long time now..."

He sucked in a shallow breath. I could see the gears in his mind working, trying to figure out exactly what my motivations were.

"Yes, hmm?"

"Well, I... just... promise me you'll let me do this once. I don't care if you kill me afterwards, just let me have this one time." I pleaded.

After seemingly judging me for the longest time, he finally nodded. It was a tiny movement; a quick twitch in the neck, but it was all I needed for the go ahead.

Slowly, I ran my fingers through the bangs that hung over the one side of his face. After memorizing the feel of the silky locks, I rested my hand in the crook of his neck, thumb coming forward to stroke his cheek. We never broke eye contact. Slowly, I began to cautiously lean forward.

I waited for him to push me away, but he never did. His eyes were half lidded as I closed in.

_'Come on Tobi, you can do this! Just a little further!'_

Finally, my lips met his, ever so gently. I felt like a firework had exploded in me. I had literally spent almost every second of the parts of my life I can remember dreaming about kissing him. Now I really was, and I didn't think it could get much better.

I was surprised when he leaned into it, deepening the kiss. Slowly, my arm worked its way to his shoulder.

_'I wonder if I could...'_

I decided to try my luck with him. I parted my lips slightly, allowing enough room for my tongue to poke out. Nervously, I licked his bottom lip.

I felt his body tense up beside me. Afraid I had screwed up, I stopped for a moment. However, it seemed I had only surprised him. Deidara opened up his mouth for me in a matter of seconds.

This was a once in a life time chance, and there was no way in hell I was going to pass it up. Without hesitance, I delved my tongue into the hot cave. I memorized every curve, dip, and contour of his mouth, before his own tongue met mine in a dance in the middle.

His hands grabbed the back of my shirt, and suddenly I was yanked forward by him, landing me on top of him. We only broke a part once for air, before joining once again.

The kiss that had started out gentle and hesitant had now become passionate and rough. My brain was fogging over from the strange feeling of lust. I didn't see anything but Deidara, I didn't hear anything but Deidara, I didn't taste anything but Deidara, and I didn't feel anything but Deidara. I felt the way the small hand mouths of his moistened the fabric of my shirt. And I most certainly felt the way one of the hands were trailing down my chest. Lower, lower, and lower. Until-

"Wait!" I pulled back suddenly, scared knowing how close we had come to going further.

We were both panting heavily. He looked at me with a mixture of shock, hurt, and regret.

"Sorry... I guess I got a little too excited there. I should have known you didn't want that from me, yeah..." he looked down at his lap, the sadness evident in his voice. Did he think I had rejected him because I didn't like him like that? Well that wasn't true at all. Since Zetsu gave me "The Talk" about a year after he found me, I had wanted to try it with Deidara. But I never got the chance to because of Sasori.

Now my reasons for holding back were different. I didn't want it to be a spur of the moment thing. I wanted it to be a way of showing our love. And Deidara wasn't ready for a big devotion like that yet. Before we could do anything like that, we had to deal with Mori somehow.

"It's okay, Sempai. I hope that in the future we can, but not right now. We have other things to worry about now."

I stood up and brushed my clothes back into place. I helped Deidara to his feet and we got in place to resume our training.

At the same time, we made the required hand signs. I focused on Deidara's chakra in front of me, and slowly, I began to transfer mine to his. I felt him do the same, as our chakra passed over each other in a way. This is where we had gotten stuck every time before. But this time we didn't. The different colors of our chakra signatures mixed with one another, creating a grey feeling where they met and mixed. I felt like I was nowhere like that feeling you get for a split second before the headache hits when you stand up too quickly.

My orientation became stable again as the two different flows moved past the other. I opened my eyes, and found that I was staring at myself. That came as quite a shock. I jumped back, eyes wide.

Looking down, I noticed that I now had long blonde hair and was not skinnier than a stick.

It had worked. We had successfully switched bodies.

"W-we did it! Deidara we did it! We finally switched bodies!"

We were still typical boys, so we ran up to each other and did a giant high-five.

"Ha! I knew one stupid jutsu couldn't beat us, yeah! Of course, it might be hard to get it again..." he had a point. We might have just gotten lucky. Who knew?

"Yeah. Hey, how do we switch back, again?"

"We don't. We wait it out and wait for the jutsu to wear out by itself, yeah. The book said that the minimum wait is usually an hour or so."

I nodded. This whole time, I had actually begun to formulate a plan. I knew how I would end the deal between Deidara and Mori, but it was a risky one. However, seeing as I had no other ideas, I had to go with it.

I excused myself to go around town, saying I wanted to try out what it was like to be in someone else's body. He replied saying I just wanted to be alone so that I could look at him naked.

I chuckled and left. Now I was walking through one of the more central neighborhoods. I remember learning where Mori lived once, ad I was sure with enough luck and patience, I would be able to find him.

This plan would either be the stupidest thing I've ever done, or the smartest. If all went as planned, Deidara wouldn't have to worry about Mori ever again. If something happened though, that I was not prepared for, it could mean big trouble for all of us. I only hoped nothing would go amiss.


	9. Chapter 9

It's a strange feeling, literally putting yourself in someone else's shoes. One wouldn't think how attached you get to your body; most think that it's just a body, and your naturally feel comfortable in it. That isn't true. There is a special synchronization that happens between the mind and the body, that is practiced from the moment your mind develops. Only you can be the master of your own body, since only you have been in it since before you were born.

Since I was not in Deidara's body since before I was born, it is expected I had some difficulty moving around. I kept tripping on things, because I would misjudge how long my legs were and where my feet would land, I would reach out for something and find myself missing it because these arms were a bit shorter than my own. I must have been a sight to see for those around me.

Of course, all they saw was a very clumsy Deidara walking around the neighborhood like he had ever been there. But I could tell from the look some of the neighbors that saw me in the area that Deidara had walked down this street many times before.

It wasn't long before the single, dark stone house same into view. It was small; just big enough for a normal sized family. If you just looked at it not knowing a monster lived inside, you would think that a nice family lived there. I did know, however; thus, the sight of it repulsed me.

But now was not the time to get sick or trip all over the place. This _was_ the time to remember all I could about how Deidara acted; specifically people he didn't particularly like, but had to respect. Meaning Itachi, Pein, and Sasori (before that red headed bastard stole Deidara's heart).

He was very sarcastic and stubborn. He always put up some sort of fight when told to do something-what that something was never mattered. And when he wanted something, well, he used his ultimate weapons: seduction, black mail, or bribery, usually the first or the last. Seduction wasn't very hard for him; he already had the body for it. Not to mention those bright azul eyes of his that I loved so much. And his soft blonde hair, and his wonderful personality, and those soft pink lips that moved ever so gracefully every time he spoke a word-

_'Woah, okay Tobi, you're getting _way _off track there!'_

Back to my original train of thought. If I wanted to pull off a convincing Deidara and go through with this plan, I had to perfect his ways.

This plan was risky. By putting Deidara's well being as my first priority, the first thing I would need to do is get Mori away from him. And I had a plan that was so stupid and crazy, it just might work.

The door to the cursed home was twenty yards... ten yards... five feet... aaaaand right in front of me. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves- which were on high end at the moment. I knocked on the door, hoping that Mori was home.

There was some scuffing from behind the door, and-with a speed I wasn't certain could be any good for the it-the door was whipped open.

Mori stood there, still wearing his solid black pajamas; a tight shirt with the sleeves cut off and baggy sweat pants that were dangerously low. I gulped and brought my attention back to his face, suppressing my blush. I guess it showed through anyways, because a smirk made its way to his lips.

"Well, well, well. Looks like a sexy little mouse decided to show up at my door. Hmm... what could he possible want? Our meeting isn't until tomorrow. Unless, of course, you were so eager that you just _had _to give yourself up to me this very instant."

He looked at me with a sultry air around him. My legs were twitching to turn me around and run for it. I had to tough this out though. There was a chance that I wouldn't make it out of this place completely unscathed, but it didn't matter; no matter what happened I was going to get hurt.

I put on my best Deidara act and faced him with a fake confidence.

"In your dreams, yeah. But I would like to come in. There's something I needed to talk to you about, yeah," he pouted before eying me skeptically. After a moment he stepped aside, motioning me in. The set up wasn't really what I expected. It wasn't over the top "horny teenager" decor with posters of heavy metal bands and nearly naked or full out naked girls in strange positions. It wasn't that at all. It was actually pretty normal.

The walls were a light beige color with white trim at the top and bottom. The floor was made up of neatly patterned dark brown and grey stones. There were a couple of house plants here and there, but it was bare besides that. All in all, a cozy-but kind of plain-little house.

Of course, you can never judge a person until you've seen their room. I didn't plan to stay around long enough to see that.

I found the living room quickly, and took a seat on the couch. He sat down on a chair opposite me.

_'Let's see, how am I going to say this...'_

"So, you sure you're not here 'cause you want what only I can give you?" He flashed that annoying smirk once again, but I ignored it. He had just given me the perfect set up for my plan.

"No, not exactly, yeah. But it does have to do with it..." I was getting more nervous by the second. This had to be convincing, but I couldn't say the wrong thing and screw it up.

He silently urged me to continue.

"It's about our deal. I think I might have an offer that will interest you, yeah. It has to do with Tobi..."

Normal POV

Of course, Mori had known it was a trick from the second Tobi had knocked on the door. No one he knew came to his house; everyone but Deidara and his crew was too afraid of him, and the ones that did come over just barged right in. Especially Deidara.

So when he opened the door to find Deidara standing there, it chocked him a little. Then he remembered looking at the page that had the jutsu Tobi and Deidara had been working on. It was a jutsu that allowed someone to trade bodies with another. He smirked knowingly as he let "Deidara" in. It was obviously Tobi, but no else needed to know that, now did they?

The only thing Mori didn't see coming was the offer that Tobi made to him. It shocked him silent for a few moments. The thought of it was...actually quite impressive. It took a lot of courage and dedication to do something like this for someone else, and it was a lot to give up. Since Tobi was in Deidara's form, to anyone else who didn't see through the trick would just think it was Deidara being cruel and not being loyal to his friend, but again, Mori wasn't someone else, and he did see past the facade to see the sacrifice.

The deal was made within ten minutes, and Tobi left the small house. The last thing he wanted was to revert bodies, and Deidara find himself in Mori's home. That would undoubtedly bring up questions that he really didn't want to answer. So, the first thing he did was find the local art museum. He planed to browse through the halls and enjoy some art while in the body of the world greatest artist, but sadly, he ran out of time.

The dizzy feeling was the same as before, and when he opened his eyes again, he was sitting at a dango bar, a half empty plate in front of him. Tobi laughed a little. That was one way to get him to eat more. Not wanting the food to go to waste, he quickly ate the rest and tossed a quick 'thank you' to the woman serving.

Getting back to Deidara's apartment was a bit of a hassle. One really had to know their way around the city to get anywhere within ten minutes. Unfortunately for Tobi, not only had he not been here that long, he also ad a bad habit of never paying attention to where he was going, and constantly got lost even if he had been to that place more than once. It was sad really. Today was his lucky day though; he found the tall apartment complex on the first try.

The black haired nin darted up the stairs and into their now shared apartment, where they had agreed to meet. Deidara was already there; the art museum was much closer than the dango bar.

"Hey! I see you visited the art museum today, yeah," the blonde was sitting on the couch, a magazine in hand.

"Yup. And you found a way to get me to eat more than 1,000 calories a day."

"Heh heh, pretty smart of me wasn't it, hmm?"

"Anything you do is smart sempai..." Tobi leaned over the back of the couch to kiss Deidara. It was short though, and Tobi pulled away quickly, smiling. "Well, most of the time."

Deidara scoffed and whacked him over the head. "Stupid kohai."

After that, Tobi retired to his room. He was happy and smiling on the outside, but he was going through serious emotional turmoil on the inside.

He was scared. He was about to give up one of the most valuable things a person can have, and to Mori nonetheless. Saying he was scared was a bit of an understatement. He found comfort in the thought that this was for his sempai. He would do anything for his artist, if it meant Deidara could be happier.

The day was done, and Tobi fell asleep clutching that one source of comfort like a life line. Deidara sat on the couch, reading his magazine, unaware of how his life was about to change for the better...

Or worse.


	10. Chapter 10

_The waterfalls were beautiful as ever; crashing their waters rhythmically down on the pond below, shimmering in the light, alive. Sure they were a sight to see, but nothing compared to the beauty who's head was in my lap. Deidara._

_I sat cross legged on the moss, leaning back on one hand, the other running its fingers through the golden hair that splayed over my legs and onto the ground. Deidara rested peacefully there in my lap. One might think he had fallen asleep, but then again, no one but me was close enough to feel his heart speed up every time I would say something totally sappy and cliche. He did not fail to whisper his thoughts of such things._

_We had been laying here for at least ten minutes, enjoying the sun's rays all to ourselves. The breeze was enough to make the leaves in the trees around us to rustle. Everything was perfect for now._

_But I could sense it. This was the calm before the storm. This was one of those moments where time stands still, and everything is so perfect you could cry, and nothing could change that. But then when that moment ended-which it would, no doubt-everything would come crashing down, and someone would get hurt-if not destroyed. _

_I groaned as I felt the familiar clenching of my stomach muscles. What can I say? I'm human. And when a person's got to go, a person's got to go. With a chaste kiss on his forehead, I gingerly scooted out from underneath him. He watched me with pouting eyes as I made my way behind the trees. _

_"Don't worry, Sempai! I'll be back before you know it."_

_I finished up quickly, and I skipped back to the special opening where Deidara was waiting for me, or, at least I thought that was where I had been headed. I stopped after a couple of minutes of wondering. It was clear I wasn't going in the right direction, so I stopped and went the other direction._

_After another minute or so of that, however, I still could not find my way to the clearing. I began to panic. I was known for getting lost, and this was not the time to live up to that reputation. Surely there had to be some sign around here that would help me figure out where I was; the forest couldn't be the same every where, right? Apparently, it can._

_I had been wondering around for about five minutes now, and I was sure I was more lost than before. They say if you ever get lost that you shouldn't mover from where you are, and let someone who knows their way find you, otherwise you'll just end up more lost and possibly never get yourself out. Obviously, I don't really listen to them. Maybe I should. They had good advice._

_"Sempai!...Deidara!...Can you hear me?" I called out. Naturally, there was no reply. I slumped down the trunk of a tree and held my head int my hands. How could this possibly get any worse?_

_My attention was brought to the pounding of foot steps. At first I though that Deidara had heard me after all and was coming to my rescue, sarcastic remark prepared and everything. I knew that this wasn't the case though. These foot steps were fast and hard, almost as if their owner was running from something. Why would Deidara be running?_

_The steps got closer and closer, and soon I could hear the background noise of more feet. _

'So whatever it is _is _running from something'

_I moved some branches and leaves in front of me, hoping to camouflage myself. After all, if they were running from something, that something was more than likely a predator. I didn't want to be next on its target list._

_The two came closer and closer, until they were about to run right in front of me. That was when a flash of long blonde hair sprinted past me._

'Deidara?'

_I didn't have time to get a good look, because as fast as the blonde came, he was gone. Now another came sprinting into my line of sight. Brown and black is what I saw now, chasing down after the blonde, gaining on him quickly._

'Mori? Mori!'

_I quickly got up and abandoned my hiding spot, and took off in the direction of the two. I don't know how I passed them both, but I soon found myself running besides the blonde. I looked over at him, to find that it was not Deidara at all-it was a common deer, with a light colored coat. I glanced behind us to see that it was not Mori that was chasing after us either. Behind us was a ferocious looking wolf/bear-I couldn't tell which-that was snarling at us and eying us down hungrily. _

_Despite it only being a deer, I kept running with it. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I did. I encouraged it to keep running; maybe we could outrun the beast, or at least wear it down until it could no longer go. That was my reasoning for staying there with the poor deer. Unfortunately, the creature was fast, and had stamina. Before I knew it, it was there behind us, a few feet away. _

_It growled loudly before making its move. It pounced forward towards the deer, and brought it to the ground. I could only watch in fear as the beast eyed its catch for a moment. Then I noticed that the deer was not light colored at all; it was black._

_Now I found myself staring into the eyes of the predator. It's eyes were a dark chocolate brown, with confidence and fury set into them-just like Mori's._

_I understood what was happening now. The animal had not been chasing down the deer, in a sense. It was chasing down me. It had only used the blonde deer as bait. The black deer was what it was really after._

_I was the deer. I was the prey._

_The beast struck._

I awoke nearly forehead glistened in the moonlight with sweat. My breathing was heavy and ragged. Then, I felt a warm hand touch my shoulder.

I looked over to see Deidara sitting next to me in bed, a worried look plastered on his face. His presence calmed me, and I allowed him to push me back to the pillow. He rested his head on my chest, not saying anything for a while.

Once my breathing was back to normal, he spoke. "Same dream, hmm?" I nodded. "I'm sorry, yeah..."

I stroked his hair, the movement calming me even more. I had been having the same nightmare every night ever since my meeting with Mori; about five days in a row now. Deidara still did not know of the meeting, and I never told him what the nightmares were about, lest he connect the dots. This didn't stop him from asking every time, though.

Tonight was no different. "You wanna talk about it, hmm?" I looked down at him and smiled.

"No. It's okay. I'm a big boy, Sempai, I can deal with a silly little dream." I said as I patted his head. I knew he didn't like the gesture, but he never said anything about it.

"You sure? 'Cause I heard that talking about them can sometimes make them go away, yeah."

I shook my head. "No, it's all good. Just forget about it."

"You sure, hmm?" I nodded. Deidara sighed and laid his head back down. I could see his head move up and down slightly with my chest as I breathed. "I just wish there was something I could do to distract you from all of this, yeah..." he mused. Then he quickly looked back up at me, looking me in the eye. The offer was unsaid, but I knew what it was anyway.

"No." was all I said.

He let out an exasperated breath. "And why the hell not, hmm? It would distract you from all of this crap, yeah!" I looked at him sternly.

"No. It wouldn't be fair. I couldn't use you like that." He crawled over me and planted a firm kiss on my lips. We broke apart after a little while.

"Tobi, please. I'm not a little kid anymore, yeah. Plus, it's not like I'm a virgin or anything, you wouldn't be taking anything from me..." he leaned in to my ear and began to whisper. "And don't try to hide it, yeah. I know you're not a virgin either."

I gasped and pushed him away so I could look him in the eye.

"How did you know that? I've never told anyone that!"

It was true, I wasn't a virgin. Back (strange choice of words...) in the days of the Akatsuki, there had been one time with Zetsu. Really though, that was a one time thing, and we agreed to never tell anyone about it. Even if it had gotten out and Deidara heard, there was no way that he could know in this time.

"I don't know... I can just feel it. My gut feelings are never wrong."

Now that I thought about it, Zetsu had said almost the same thing. I didn't remember when, or who it was with, but sometime before I had lost my memory, I had lost my innocence. If Zetsu had seen it back then (again strange choice of words), there was no reason Deidara couldn't seen it now.

"Oh..."

"Tobi, it's okay, yeah. I couldn't care less. I don't care when or who or where or how. Just...please. I want to do this for you." He gazed at me pleadingly, and it was hard to resist. I thought about it for a while.

Really, what was the harm in it? Like he had said, neither of us would be giving up anything, and it was pretty clear we both wanted it. I had said before that I didn't think people should go all the way unless they really loved each other, but I loved sempai. More than he would ever know. I hoped that he loved me, too, and I think he did. Perhaps in a differently way; nevertheless, I felt it. I didn't see any reason not to take it further.

I spoke hardly above a whisper, "...okay..."

Deidara was shocked for a moment, but soon got over it. He lowered himself down to capture my lips with his again. I hesitated for a moment before deepening the kiss.

I made sure we moved slowly, but all to soon clothes began to make piles on the floor around the bed. It was time to do this.

We thoughtlessly lost ourselves in each other for the rest of the night. It was stupid really, how we could act the way we did without giving a second thought. It was hot and cloudy, everything fueled with lust, so stupid it almost made me want to scoff. But if felt right.

This...this was right. It was never more than a simple formula. As long as I had Deidara, i was happy. That was all I ever needed. I hoped someday that one day, as long as he had me, he'd be happy, too. And that would be all we ever needed, all there ever was. Just us.

But that day had yet to come. For now, we were stuck with being stupid lovers, doing stupid things, and loving each other stupidly.

The next morning came all too fast. I wasn't especially a light sleeper, but having the sun directly in you eyes tends to wake you up.

I was a bit startled to feel someone else in the bed, but relaxed when I saw it was Sempai. I blushed hard as I remembered last night. If I was innocent in any way before, I sure as hell wasn't now. I could still almost hear him...was it him? I couldn't remember. I couldn't distinguish which one of us was the one making all of those sounds. It might have been both.

I untangled our naked bodies and cleaned up the clothes that had been thrown haphazardly on the floor. From the closet I grabbed dome fresh ones and put them on. Sempai would get clothes when he wanted, so I let him be and enjoy his sleep. It looked like I would be the one making breakfast for us.

Normal POV

Deidara woke a bit less grumpy, which as strange since he was _not _a morning person, but his happiness had nothing to do with morning or a new day. He was still radiating with happiness from the night before.

No one would know how happy he was. It felt great. That had been the first time in his life had he ever truly given himself up on his own terms. Sure, it wasn't like he ever kicked and screamed to avoid Mori (at least not anymore), but that was because he knew he had no choice. Putting a fight would have only wasted time and energy. But this was different.

This he had wanted. This time had been for the sake of expressing love, not for money or anything of that sort. This was the sort of thing that didn't require deals and insecure promises.

Over the past few weeks, he had unconsciously developed a strange love for the energetic idiot he now called his. He was happy for once in his life, and he felt like nothing was strong enough to take that away from him. And he still wouldn't tell Tobi. He didn't need to. Some things were just more meaningful left unsaid.

After complaining about having nothing to wear as he stared down the closet full of clothes, he finally settled for a simple t-shirt and sweat pants. Today was a lazy day, and he wasn't going anywhere.

He could smell the bacon cooking in the kitchen and his stomach growled in response. Apparently it was time to eat.

Deidara entered the kitchen that was currently being occupied by Tobi, and laughed when he saw Tobi wearing that pink apron. it was currently falling off because apparently Tobi didn't know how to tie a knot. Tobi watched as Deidara came up behind him and started working on redoing the knot.

"Did you sleep well, Deidara-sempai?"

"Mmm."

"Ugg... please don't do that. You'll be like Itachi..." Tobi could remember nearly gong crazy one day because the weasel had insisted on saying, "Hn." to everything. Needless to say, Tobi avoided Itachi after that.

"Itachi? Who's that?" Deidara paused to ask. Tobi almost face palmed. Duh. Of course Deidara didn't know who Itachi was. That was probably a good thing, since Itachi was the one who made Deidara hate Uchihas first.

"Uh- no one. Don't listen to me! Heh heh..." Tobi said quickly. Deidara eyed him suspiciously before shrugging and finishing retying the apron.

"There you go, yeah. Now it won't fall off into the frying pan and catch on fire or something, yeah."

Deidara began to walk away, but Tobi turned around and stopped him. Deidara looked at him confused.

"What, hmm?"

"Sempai... let's... let's not make last night a one time thing, okay?" Tobi blushed and set his gaze elsewhere. The blonde simply smiled.

"Of course not. That was far too good to let it only happen once, yeah," the artist kissed the other on the cheek quickly before turning serious. "Really though, did you honestly think I would make it a one time thing?"

Tobi looked away shyly. "Well..."

Deidara kissed Tobi earnestly for a moment. When he pulled away, he said, "Never." Then he whacked Tobi's head for doubting him.

There was a knock on the front door. The two looked at each other questioningly. Neither had been expecting anyone to come.

"I'll get it, yeah," Deidara grumbled. Tobi shrugged and resumed his cooking.

Back with Deidara, he was frozen at the door.

"M-Mori?" Deidara didn't know what to think. They weren't supposed to meet today, but he guessed it was justifiable since Mori had missed the meeting a week ago. If that was it, what crappy timing.

"Hey, Dei-da-ra~" Mori drew the name out in a purr.

"What do you want Mori?" The blonde was getting irked now.

"Well, I'm sure you already know. Where's Tobi?"


	11. Chapter 11

Normal POV

"What do you want with Tobi, hmm?"

"Please, don't act like you don't know."

"But I don't, yeah. Now either tell me what you want with him or get out of here!" Deidara hissed. Mori was smirking at him, and it was beginning to bother the young artist.

"What? Do you not remember making the deal with me?" the dark haired boy began taking slow steps forward through the apartment's front door. Deidara took a step back for every step Mori became closer to him. He wasn't liking what the elder was saying. He didn't remember making any deals with Mori recently, and especially not any that had anything to do with his new found lover.

"What deal? I don't remember ever talking about something like that with you any time recently, yeah." The hallway was too narrow, and Deidara was left pressed against the wall. For once, Mori didn't pin him to the stupid barrier that always kept him from getting away. Instead, he just stood there ominously in front of him, that uncanny smirk plastered across his face.

"So you don't remember, huh? Well, then perhaps I should remind you." Mori loomed closer to Deidara, making said blonde extremely uneasy. "You and I made a deal that said I would stop trading sex with you for money, in exchange for him coming to live with me as my personal slave/servant. I would of course, continue to pay you your normal share."

Deidara was taken aback by the words spilling out of Mori's mouth. He certainly never remembered saying any of this, and he didn't think he ever would; why would he sell Tobi away like that?

"What the hell are you talking about, hmm? I never talked to you about anything like that!"

"Oh, but you did. Just ask your precious little Tobi. I'm sure he knows all about it." Mori emphasized on the word "precious". Deidara knew he couldn't have known about the things they'd done; it wasn't like he was there with them, but he got the feeling that Mori just knew. He always did.

"Fine, I'll ask him right now, yeah!" Deidara spoke with false confidence. Inside, he was having an inner battle of thoughts. On one side, he had no idea how Mori could think that they had ever made such a deal. On the other side, he was confused and panicking about why Tobi would know anything about it while he didn't. After all, Mori was claiming that Deidara was the one who made the deal, right? Was Tobi hiding something from him?

In the jumble of thoughts flashing through his mind, one stuck out in particular. At first, it seemed random, just a small idea that had haphazardly popped up. However, the more it lingered at the front of his thoughts, the more it connected.

Almost a week ago, he and Tobi had switched bodies. There was a time of approximately two hours where one looked like the other, and the people around them would think it was who they were seeing. They hadn't been together at the time either, so each one was able to do anything in the other's body without the other ever knowing it. It was beginning to make sense now.

If Deidara's assumptions were right, then this "deal" was really made by Tobi. Of course, he knew Mori was painfully intelligent, so chances were Mori would have known this all along, This would also explain why Mori said that Tobi would know about this deal while Deidara didn't.

Yes, this theory made sense of everything, and Deidara prayed that it was wrong.

The blonde quickened his pace on his way back to the kitchen where the boy of question was still waiting. Tobi was currently moving the breakfast pancakes from the frying pan to the plate, a naive smile still on his face. Deidara inhaled deeply in an attempt to calm his static nerves. He slowly dawdled over to the energetic boy.

Deidara had never been one to ease into things. He was usually quick and to the point, and never really cared for the other's feelings, but he did care this time, and he knew there was no way to worm his way around it. It was best if he just said it. "Tobi, hmm?"

"Yeah, Deidara?" Tobi turned around to look at Deidara. The tone in the blonde's voice confused him. It sounded like...worry? Was it distrust? Either way it didn't sound too good.

"Tobi, the person at the door, it's Mori." Deidara said this with the corners of his mouth firmly set into a frown of disgust.

"What? Mori? Why's he here? Wait, don't tell that he-"

"He wants to see you, yeah." Deidara interrupted. Tobi just gaped at the blonde in front of him, and said blonde stared right back, knowingly.

Tobi's POV

'Did he figure it out? Did Mori tell him? Oh crap, what do I say?'

My mouth moved with words that never came out, and my heart picked up speed. I could feel it pounding through my rib cage, making it hard to breath. I had to swallow a few times before that lump in my throat went away long enough for me to speak.

"What... what does he want?" I asked nervously.

"He wants to confront you about a deal that I supposedly made. Problem is, I don't remember making this deal he's told me about, but he's said that for some reason, you would know more about it than I would. So would you care to tell me why he told me to ask you about it?"

So Mori did tell him. I wasn't sure how much Deidara knew-and I didn't really want to know-but I could safely assume that he knew enough to be thoroughly pissed at me. At first I was puzzled at how Mori knew that it was really me that had made the arrangements, but of course he knew; this was Mori. The question now was what to say that wouldn't hurt things more than they already were. Nothing intelligent or crafty was coming to mind, so I resorted to the default: tell the truth. After all, that's all you really can do in a situation like this, right?

"Well, Sempai, I'm guessing you already know the answer to that. What are you going to say about it?" He gave me a stern once over before speaking again. I couldn't tell what he was thinking; he always had a way of hiding his emotions when he wanted to.

"What am I going to say, hmm? Well, first off, how you could be so stupid to think that this was a good idea is beyond me Is this what your nightmares have been about? If so, maybe you should pay attention to them; they were trying to tell you made a giant mistake. Second of all, why didn't you tell me? Can you not trust me? Is that it? Didn't I just prove to you last night that I trust you? You're the only other person besides Mori that I've done it with, and on top of that, I wanted it! There's a reason I don't have many friends, yeah. And you know why that is? Because it takes years for me to trust people!

"Tobi, it took me not even a month to trust you! And now you've just proven that you still don't trust in me. I can understand that you did this because you care about me, but I care about you, too! If you really wanted me to be happy, you should have considered that it just might hurt me more than you to see you be taken advantage of by that douche bag, Mori!"

I stayed silent for a long time. I hadn't thought about that at all. I guess in a way he was right; even after all of that, I still didn't think he cared enough to be upset about this ordeal. I just thought he'd be too relieved to have such a burden taken off his shoulders that he wouldn't feel anything else. I was wrong. This goes to show that you can never make assumptions when it comes to Deidara.

"I'm sorry... I never thought of that... What are we going to do about it?"

"What can we do about it, hmm? You make a deal with Mori, and that's that, yeah. You can't get out of it, so it'd be pointless for me to try to do anything. This is one screw up you can't get out of." He said resentfully. That's when-speak of the devil (literally)-Mori decided to amble in like we weren't in the middle of a crisis here.

"I see everything's been sorted out, ne? Well, I hate to break up you two love birds, but I think I'll take the brat now, and be on my way-"

"Wait!" Deidara tugged me out of the kitchen and into the hallway where the bedrooms were. "Tobi, listen, yeah. This is just happening really fast, but I need you to promise me you won't do anything with him with your consent. Don't betray me like that... I don't think I could handle it, yeah."

Out of all the things that had been said, I think that hit me the hardest. There were no visible tears, not even that slight catch in the throat that people get when they're trying not to cry, but it's the emotions that never get through that hurt the most. I laced my arm around the small of his back and pulled him into me. I felt the small drops of salt water gather at the edge of my eyes.

"I promise." I replied.

He nodded into my chest and pulled away. "I'll tell him that you're getting a few things to take with you."

"Sounds good." I said. It didn't really sound good, though. Nothing did. Everything had become solemn, and I doubted I'd even be able to pull of a fake smile. I jus hoped Mori wouldn't insist I look happy, because I wouldn't be able to do it.

There wasn't much of my things that were worth salvaging for where I was going. I put the few clothes I had and unceremoniously stuffed them into a large bag that I found in the closet, then I added some hygiene supplies, and finally, I snuck one of Deidara's pillows from his bed and added that to the bag. I wanted at least one thing of his to remind me of this place. There wasn't anything else to pack that appealed to me, so I left it at that and took the half full cotton bag back to the kitchen where Deidara and Mori were.

Deidara sat on the counter, seeming very interested in the stone work on the surface. Mori leaned against the wall parallel to Deidara, foot tapping impatiently and glaring at the floor. The only sound to be heard was my scuffles across the stone floor as I made my entrance. Mori got off the wall when he noticed my arrival, but Deidara continued to say nothing, and did not look at me.

"Is that all? Dang, you really travel light, doncha?" Mori eyed my bag, amused. I didn't say anything in reply, so he shrugged. "Well, no point in just standing here, eh? We'll be on our way now. Later, DeiDei!" Mori grabbed my arm in a near death grip and he dragged me along behind him out the door. As we left the kitchen, I could have sworn I hear Deidara whisper a sad "Good-bye" to me.

On the long walk to Mori's new house-and my new prison-I began to silently cry to myself. I didn't get it. Everything had been going so well not twelve hours ago, and now I felt like things couldn't get worse. I knew it was all my own fault, but I still wished there was someone else to blame. There was Mori, of course, but he wasn't the one who had come up with this stupid idea in the first place.

It was all because of my own stupidity, and despite knowing now that it hurt Deidara as well, I would keep doing this if it meant protecting Deidara from Mori.


	12. Chapter 12

I had a bad sense of déjà-vu when we trekked down his street again. This would be my second time walking this road, and both times weren't a pleasant experience. I would have nightmares about this place, I could feel it.

That damned house kept creeping closer and closer, the treat of being locked in it beginning to loom over me.

I slowed my steps a bit, not so much that it was noticeable, but enough to stay away from that hell hole a little longer. I didn't know what was going to come from Mori. Would he make me his personal sex slave and keep me locked away from the rest of the world, slowly rotting away in my own self pitty? Or would I have to be his pet and follow him around everywhere, flaunting to the world that I was its biggest idiot? I didn't know which would be worse.

Damn Mori. Damn world. Damn deal that I had to make!

My feet were like lead as they dragged themselves to stand next to Mori as he opened the door. The click of the lock felt like a fatal bullet shot to me. There was no turning back as I crossed the line into the foyer. The door slammed shut behind me, making me wince.

Mori finally broke the silence, "You'll be sharing a room with me, obviously. It's down that hall," he motioned towards the left hall, "and the second door on right. You can put your stuff in there wherever you want, I don't care."

He didn't even tell me what he was going to do when he walked away down the opposite hall. I didn't like standing there looking like I was deaf or something, so I followed his instructions.

I stood in front of his door for at least five minutes. I knew I would have to open the door sooner or later, but my arm refused to cooperate and stayed by my side as I continued to glare at the door, as if I could intimidate it into opening by itself.

What would his room be like? Would it be filled with torture weapons and porn magazines? Or maybe it was a dark room with no windows and dust on the floor like a real prison cell. I wasn't sure what to expect as I finally willed my hand to turn the knob and push open the door with a small creak.

I wasn't expecting what I saw.

It was...normal. There were no torture devices or sex toys on the floor, no magazines except for some popular ones that I was sure every one had. There was a bed in the center with light green sheets and grey pillows-newly made and cleaned. There was a small marble bed stand with some books and a small reading lamp. On the walls were scrolls with jutsus printed on them, kanji, and other pieces of writing that I assumed were important to him. Right above the head board on the bed were two katanas, overlapping each other in an 'x' shape. They looked old, like they had been passed down from many generations.

This got me thinking about Mori's family. I had never seen his parents, or heard him say anything about them. The only thing I had heard about his family was that they owned the village's weaponry shop, and I had found that out through Deidara.

Mori couldn't possibly be living on his own, could he? Then again, most ninja's started living on their own around this age, so I guess it was probably true. I didn't see how any parent would let their child be so cruel and sadistic towards others, anyway.

I stopped gaping at his surprisingly normal room and set my bag down on the side of the bed opposite the end table. I figured that must be the side he normally slept on, and who was I to make him move? Then again, it could be small payback for kidnapping me like this.

Oh wait. Thats right. I'm the one who asked for this.

I sighed and pulled out Deidara's pillow, which was at the top of the bag. I hugged it close to me, intaking that intoxicating smell of his. I wanted to stay there like that for a while longer, but I was interrupted when Mori walked in without warning. I jumped back a little with a manly squeak.

"Sorry, I didn't know you needed alone time with your girlfriend," he snickered, eyeing the pillow that was still being squashed in between my arms. I blushed and released it, setting it down on the bed. We both stood there awkwardly for a moment, not sure of what to say next. I had a feeling that he would try to break the silence with another insult, but when he opened his mouth to say something, he shut it again and looked away.

A few more moments passed and I decided to speak up about my questions earlier. "So...what's the plan? Am I allowed to leave the house for school and other things, or..." I trailed off at the end, not wanting to think about it too much.

He seemed to think about it for moment before answering. "You will earn your freedom through work. Right now, we are starting at zero, meaning you have minimum freedom. You may not leave this house, and before you do anything besides going to the bathroom, you must get my permission. Each time you prove that I can trust you, I will raise your freedom a little bit. Does that make any sense?" he asked me.

I nodded, keeping my eyesight on the floor. "What are the things I can do to earn your trust? If you don't mind, I'd like to get started as soon as possible.

"Well, for starters, you could look me in the eye when we speak. Let me know you're really paying attention."

I looked up and met his gaze. it was not angry, mocking, or ominous, it was just a monotone expression. After a few seconds of our staring contest, a small smile pulled at his lips.

"See? Look at you, already on your way to more freedom!" I couldn't tell if the enthusiasm was fake-it probably was-but it did make me feel a bit more confident.

"What else can I do?" I asked more eagerly.

"Now now. That was just something to get you started. You have to do these things on your own; I can't tell you what to do all the time, otherwise it won't mean anything, now will it?" he said matter-of-factly.

My excitement started to drain, and I nodded again. I could see what he meant though.

"Good. So now you know what's going on around here. Now the rules or my house. No using the kitchen unless told to or given permission, you cannot go into any rooms that I have not left open, and if there's anything you want to do that does not concern human needs, you have to ask me first or there will punishments, clear?"

"I got it." I briefly wondered what the punishments were, but quickly decided I didn't want to know.

"Good. Now go make me some lunch, I'm hungry."

With that, he turned and left without another word or command.

When I stepped back out into the hall, I didn't see him anywhere. It was kind of creepy how he just disappeared, but I had other things to worry about. Like making a good lunch for once.

It had been a while since I had made a real lunch for anyone but myself. I didn't know what he liked or what he wanted, so I stuck with a simple sandwich.

I found the fridge in the kitchen and opened it, seeing all the ingredients I needed.

It took me about ten minutes to make four turkey sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, bell peppers, and some light mustard.r

I set the plate out on the table and took one for myself. Surely I could eat just one, right? I did make four, so it wasn't like I was eating all of them. I ate my serving in silence, waiting for hi m to come in, but he never did. I wondered what he was doing. I didn't know him that well, but I assumed he was most likely unpacking the boxes with whips and blindfolds and other kinky stuff like that, which he would probably try to use on me in my sleep.

I finished off my food and left the kitchen, returning to Mori's-I mean, our room to finish unpacking my small bag. I put the pillow in the right place on top of the others, and laid the blanket I had taken over it. I didn't know what Mori wanted me to do with my clothes, so I left them in the bag.

What was Deidara doing right now? I hoped he was doing something with his art instead of worrying about me. I hoped he was happy right now, doing something he wanted to do.

I was stuck here with a crazy rapist who probably hates me.

I shook that thought out of my head. No. I wasn't going to let Mori intimidate me. I could adjust. Eventually, I would get used to living here, and eventually, I would earn enough freedom back to see Deidara again. I would get through this.

I sighed and sat down on the floor, propped up against the bed. I told myself this like a mantra for who knows how long before I finally heard noise from the kitchen. I got up and checked it out.

Mori had finished off the last of the sandwiches, and had scooted his chair out. I hurried over and took the dirty platter and began washing it in the sink.

"Look at that! I didn't even have to ask you! You're a fast learner. Keep it up and I'll give you a nice reward~" he almost sang happily as he disappeared once again. I felt unnerved by it.

I didn't like the way he said, "nice reward," I didn't like it one bit, because knowing Mori, he probably had something else planned that was far from "nice".


	13. Chapter 13

**Hiya guys, SO sorry that you've had to wait this long for the story…again sorry. Hopefully this will be as good as the original! **

Tobi POV

Mori had been gone for an hour now and I'm stuck here in a house I don't feel comfortable in, alone. I guess the last part is okay because it gets me away from Mori, but it's still quiet odd for me to be here alone in the house of who I consider the enemy.

I leaned against the wall, and slowly slid down until I was sitting on the floor. Running an anxious hand threw my hair I couldn't help but wish this was all some bad dream. That I would wake up and be in a safe, warm bed with Deidara's arms wrapped around me**. **I even tried to test that theory by closing my eyes and willing myself to wake up, but it only seemed to make this feel more real.

I don't know how long I stayed sitting on the floor, but it felt much too soon before I heard the front door open and slam shut. Jumping up to my feet I rushed to the front door.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Mori?" I asked in a sugary sweet voice

"Yes, will you be so kind as to start a bath for me?" He asked as if I actually had a choice

"Of course, right away."

I scurried away from him as fast as I could to the bathroom. I had set plugged the tub so the water would stay and turned on the water. I looked around the spacious room and found a clean towel for Mori to use. I folded it nice and pretty before setting it on the counter where he could reach it without getting water on the floor.

When the water was a respectable level, I shut the water off and found some bath salt to put in.

"This looks wonderful."

I jumped at the sudden appearance of another person and regretted it instantly.

There stood Mori clad in nothing more than a mere set of thin boxers that showed off his excitement. Sadly, I found myself looking him over and not missing the skin stretched taunt over tight muscles. I saw the six pack he had, and admired every dip and curve he had to offer.

Shaking my head trying to lose the train of thought my mind was starting to wonder on I looked up at Mori's smiling face.

"Like what you see hmm?" He taunted

"I'll let you bathe in peace." I murmured while trying to side step him

The key word being _trying_.

Mori had stepped in my way and wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Stay, its time for your reward." He purred in my ear

My stomach dropped to my knees while simultaneously tying into painful knots.

"I-I'd really rather not…I'm sure you want a peaceful..." I was cut off by Mori's hand over my mouth.

He then let him hands travel down to my waist where he grabbed the bottom of my shirt and began to pull it over my head.

I heard a slight gasp before Mori began to talk.

"Didn't Deidara ever feed you?" He asked rhetorically for I chose not to answer

My shirt was now on the floor, and I felt very exposed. I saw Mori reaching for my pants, but I wanted to keep some dignity.

"I'll get them." I told him quietly while looking to the ground

Once my pants met my shirt on the floor I looked up to see Mori throwing his last piece of clothing on the pile before walking toward the bath I had made.

"Hurry up before the water gets cold."

'I'm sorry Deidara.' I silently apologized before slipping out of my boxers and walking over to the bath.

Mori positioned himself so that the only place there was room was between his legs.

Very hesitantly I lowered myself into the water and sat in front of Mori. I stiffened when I felt arms snake themselves around my waist and pull me back against a hard chest.

"Calm down, I won't do anything you don't want me too." Mori spoke softly in my ear, fanning his hot breath across my neck.

I couldn't help but know how wrong this was, and I couldn't help but wish instead of Mori's arms wrapped around me that they were Deidara's.

My body betrayed me as I felt myself relaxing against the body I was pressed up against. However my mind was on full alert and I felt as if I were going to go crazy any minute now.

"Relax; I'm not going to hurt you."

I felt hands trail from my waist to my shoulders and firmly began to massage the muscle under them. Slowly, and reluctantly I felt myself relax further into the enemies arms.

"Let me show you how good of a boy you are." Mori purred before he began to thoroughly wash my entire body.

A silent tear slowly trailed down my face in disgust with myself.

As Mori led himself to his-now our- room the dread in my stomach increased at the knowing of what was going to come. The disgust grew with the thought of betrayal to Deidara, but I would make sure I kept my promise; I would not go without a fight.

When we passed the threshold of the bedroom, Mori spun around to me with an evil glint in his eye. Wrapping his arms around my neck he pulled our faces closer.

"Is Tobi a good boy?" He asked huskily

Much too quickly did Mori begin to press his lips against my flesh. Starting from my jaw he slowly made the journey to my neck.

Tears began to flow more freely as he left purple marks on my pale skin for everyone to see.

He pulled me over to the middle of the room and threw me onto the bed. Climbing on top of me, Mori trailed kisses from my abdomen up to my lips where he stopped.

"I won't do anything you wouldn't do with Deidara." He chuckled darkly

Fear paralyzed me and ripped apart my stomach as my mind comprehended his words.

"Please, don't." I begged him

His sadistic smile only widened as he heard the desperation in my voice.

"Tobi's a good boy." Mori cooed in my ear as he stroked my hair

His grip on my waist tightened, succeeding in pulling our naked forms closer together.

I only began to cry even more as the events from only moments ago played again in my head.

"You'll get used to it…Deidara did." Mori laughed darkly

'Im sorry Deidara.' I apologized once more before forcing myself to go to sleep.

**Sorry its so short, I just had to end it where it was because it was just too perfect. Sorry for skipping around a bit also, but I don't really like writing forced sex scenes…its too sad. I know Mori seemed kinda nice in the beginning, and that's why I had to make him super evil at the end so it kinda balanced out… Anyhoo, stay tuned for the next chapter! **


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